


The Curse of the Gemini Coven

by salvatorestjohn



Category: Legacies (TV 2018), The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Happy Ending, Heavy Angst, Prison Worlds (Vampire Diaries), Temporary Character Death, the merge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-11-09 01:24:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 29
Words: 250,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20845253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salvatorestjohn/pseuds/salvatorestjohn
Summary: With the ascendant that she stole from her dad's office and an entire summer break on her own, Josie has managed to find more than just a box or some book about the Gemini Coven. She's found something far bigger: an entire other world made by them. And she and Lizzie deserve answers, don't they? If they have to talk to some estranged uncle of theirs in some weird prison world, then so be it.One the other side of the real world, Caroline has finally found a way to put an end to all of this, once and for all. She is finally going home, with a few extra old enemies-turned-allies than when she left. But things have never been that easy in Mystic Falls, and she doesn't remember that until it's too late. The Merge is the least of their problems now.





	1. Why does the prison world look an awful lot like our common room?

Josie is tense the entire morning. She didn't sleep that great the night before and she woke up way too early. Four hours she has to wait for her dad to finally come into her room and tell her to get ready. She's faster than she thinks she's ever been and hurries down the stairs to meet her dad, waiting for her in the foyer with car keys in hand and ready to go. 

The drive to the airport is almost even worse. The closer they get, the more agitate Josie becomes, everything that she's learned over the past few weeks bouncing around in her head. Lizzie is finally coming back from her visit with their mom in Europe, and Josie has too much to tell her. Everything that she's learned about the merge. Which is surprisingly little, but still.

She tried to keep her filled in through the postcards that they sent back and forth over the summer, but Lizzie clearly wasn't taking a thing she was saying seriously. She would just brush over possibilities and theories with details of whatever country they were in now, and how exquisite the food is, and how she's clearly not made for a small town like Mystic Falls.

Josie gave up telling her what she had found three weeks back, but now, she's practically bursting with information. She may not know a whole lot still, but it's more than they did when they found the ascendant. 

When her dad glances at her concern and asks if she's alright because she hadn't realized she was twisting the ring on her index finger around and around until the skin was starting to break and turn red. She quickly stops, gives him her most convincing smile, and says she's just excited to see Lizzie again after being separated for the entire summer break.

It's not technically a lie; she can't wait to see her, just so that she can finally make her see everything she's found. Maybe she'll take it more seriously and stop telling her that they shouldn't waste their time worrying about it when it won't change anything when she has it all laid out in front of her. 

They finally pull up at the airport after thirty-one minutes. Josie couldn't help but glance at the clock on the dashboard every few seconds, calculating the miles they had left. She climbs out of the car, her dad doing the same, and they cross the parking lot. They head directly for the gates when they walk into the building. 

Josie looks around at all of the people filing through, a disorganized mess of a crowd, and an indication that the plane has already landed. She searches for familiar blonde curls, maybe a beret seated on top of them if she really did insist on going back to France as she told her she was going to while in Luxembourg. 

It takes a good few minutes of doing a double-take at every blonde person to pass who's dragging the most amount of luggage that Josie is sure is legally allowed. Then, at last, as the crowd starts to thin, she spots her checking herself through the gate directly in front of them. 

There's no beret, but she certainly seems to have tanned a shade of two darker and the long coat draped across her definitely wasn't the one she left with when Josie tried to argue that she couldn't just ignore everything going on for a holiday. Lizzie had disagreed and then she was gone. 

Lizzie's face lights up the second she catches sight of them waiting for her. She grins brightly, waving at them, then pulls herself and her luggage over to them, narrowly weaving through the few people hovering and lingering, waiting or checking their luggage or just simply a little lost. 

"Hi, daddy!" she greets him as soon as she's able to, quickly abandoning her luggage in favour of hugging him. "Oh my god, you won't believe how amazing the last few weeks have been."

Their dad chuckles as she pulls back, but Josie doesn't miss the strain in it. If she looks at him hard enough, she almost thinks there's a slight glaze to his eyes and a strange sort of tension to his features. She wonders if he was drinking last night and is still recovering. That's how it's been most nights all summer, so it wouldn't exactly surprise her, as much as she hates it.

Lizzie doesn't seem to notice, though, and Josie isn't going to comment on it.

"Jo, you would have loved Greece," she tells her as she steps forward and pulls her into a warm hug, wide-eyed with excitement that she always gets when they've just visited their mom. "They had a bunch of landmarks and all that cool architect-y stuff you love. And the statues of the Greek deities or whatever were all, like, twenty-feet tall and a little creepy, but awesome."

Josie raises her eyebrows, smiling, and she lets herself sink into it for just a moment as Lizzie pulls back. She's happy that she's back, and it sounds like she had fun. She can picture all of the things that Lizzie's talking about, the statues in all their marble glory and the famous Parthenon, which she remembers Lizzie mentioning in her postcard, towering over them with such magnificence. 

"Mom promised to take us both there next summer, or sooner if we can," Lizzie continues, shooting a pointed glance at their dad, knowing she can persuade him into the latter. "You need to see the beach that we went to — I took pictures of everything, with the camera that I got for our birthday, of course. Aunt Bonnie even showed up during the last week."

"Alright, let's get you home," their dad says with a slight smile, ushering them forward.

He grabs Lizzie's luggage, moving ahead of them as they follow. Josie can't help but slow her pace, eyeing him warily as Lizzie talks without pause, still going on about the beach in Greece. Something about the water, a dolphin, some pretty people flirting with her in a different language.

She waits until she's sure that he won't be able to overhear, not with the noise of the people around them and the typical ones of an airport. 

"I have to tell you something," she whispers to Lizzie, her voice urgent.

Lizzie turns her head to look at her, her eyebrows lifting an inch or two, but Josie's already pressing on before she can get one word out that she just knows will divert the conversation and make her wait another thirty minutes before she gets another chance.

"Remember how I thought that maybe, because the ascendant was in Dad's office, that any other ties to it might be hidden somewhere in there as well?" 

Lizzie's brow furrows. "Was that before or after you started going on about some book you found in the library? Didn't you say that Penelope gave you some weird diary thing that gave you a bunch of information on it as well?"

Josie hesitates, quickly shaking her head. "Yeah, she did, and it — it was really helpful. That's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. Dad wrote so much about the merge, and there was even stuff about our relatives from the coven side of—"

"There you go then," Lizzie says, her grin immediately returning, scarily bright and free of worry. "You have the weird, creepy journal thing to give you all the answers you want. Case closed. Now, can we please discuss what's been going on at home while I've been away? Because your postcards really were not helpful."

Josie nearly falters in her steps. She stares at Lizzie in disbelief but stays in step beside her. By the looks of it, Lizzie is completely oblivious, still stuck in holiday brain. It always happens, and usually, Josie doesn't mind so much, except this is the one time she needs Lizzie to be present and listening to her.

She knows that Lizzie has been claiming to be turning over a new leaf. All summer, she heard about this new, carefree attitude that she had apparently magically developed overnight and decided that she was going to be nothing but positive from that moment on. Josie knows that it's her reaction to finding out about the merge, and it's just her way of dealing.

But still, right now, she needs the version of her twin that is curious and hungry to get to the bottom of the secrets being kept from them. She's supposed to be the one wanting to break all of the rules in order to get the answers she's so sure she deserves, not smiling and shrugging it off like it's no big deal.

"Lizzie, this is literally life and death," Josie tries again, lowering her voice to an almost hiss, her eyes darting to their dad as they near the entrance. "_Our_ lives and _our _deaths if we don't do something about this. Look, I found—"

"Josie," Lizzie cuts her off, and there's a familiar snap to her voice, her head whipping around to stare at her. 

She seems to notice her own slip and quickly pulls herself back, her features relaxing a little. She sighs, the huff of air blowing a loose curl, only making it separate a little more from the rest. 

"I get that you're interested in all of this, but I'm not," she tells her. "So, whatever you found, I don't want to know about it, okay? There's too much negativity surrounding it, and I am turning over a new leaf." She straightens a little, her smile returning to her lips. "I vowed that I would have a semester of yes, and I meant it. So, please, just drop it."

Josie wants to argue and give her all of the reasons for she should care about this just as much as she does — she goes to, but they've reached the entrance and their dad is holding the doors open for them, waiting for them. Lizzie's smile widens, thanking him, and slipping out past him. 

He looks at Josie as she tries not to let her frustration get the better of her. She forces a small smile, thanking him, and walking outside. He follows behind her as she stares at Lizzie's bouncing curls in front of her. She internally sighs. She should have seen this coming. Part of her had just been hoping that it wouldn't be so difficult and wouldn't take more than one three-minute conversation. 

The drive back is no better, either. Josie tries not to focus on it, but the more Lizzie goes on about her adventures in Europe from the front passenger seat, she can't help it. It's like she really doesn't see the future that lies ahead of them or the lack of one. For one of them, at least. 

She stays quiet nearly the entire way, only joining in when she's spoken to directly. Lizzie has to come around. There has to be some way to convince her. As small as it was, Josie saw a quiver of hesitation in Lizzie back at the airport. Clearly, this whole carefree attitude is just an act. 

Determined to not spend the next semester the exact way she spent the summer break — working alone and having no one to discuss any of the details with — she doesn't wait around before jumping out of the car. She pulls Lizzie along with her despite her protests, their dad just chuckling at them but letting them go. 

"What are you doing?" Lizzie demands as they go up the stairs, heading straight for their bedroom. 

Josie closes the door behind them, maybe a tad more forcefully than she should. Lizzie stands near the centre, watching her as if she's gone out of her mind, and honestly, Josie wouldn't entirely disagree with her. At this point, the entire thing has driven her crazy just because of how overwhelming it is, and it's not like she can just talk to her dad. 

"Trying to get you to listen," she tells her, looking her in the eyes, pleading with her. "Look, I know that you don't want to face any of this, okay? And I get it! I don't want to either, but we don't have a choice, Lizzie. This is happening whether we like it or not, and I would rather that we spent our time trying to find a way to stop it, or at least get some answers."

Lizzie groans, looking away from her as she crosses her arms. Josie can see it, though. She's faltering, pursing her lips as her eyebrows give a little twitch downward. A moment of uncertainty, even as brief at that one, is more than enough. 

"What makes you think that we'll be able to do anything to stop this when no one else in the Gemini Coven has for centuries, and even Mom hasn't found anything in the last ten years?" Lizzie asks, trying to poke at any little hole in her logic so that she can go back to pretending that everything's okay. 

"I have to believe that we can," Josie says firmly, shaking her head. "Otherwise...there's nothing we can do about it, and I hate that. There has to be something. Which is why I spent all summer looking for something that would put us on the right path."

Lizzie isn't even trying to conceal her interest now. It was working for her for a good moment, but it's over now and she clearly wants to know what it is that Josie's talking about.

"And?" she prompts, attempting to hold onto a sliver of her facade and failing. "Did you find anything?"

"A Grimoire," Josie answers without missing a beat and hurries to finally tell her what she was trying to at the airport before Lizzie can speak this time. "I thought that maybe, since the ascendant was in Dad's office, that anything that might help us figure out how to use it or what it's even for would be hidden in the same place. So, I went in while he was busy, and I found it, cloaked with magic."

"Just like the ascendant," Lizzie muses, already connecting the pieces for herself. "Why would Dad need a Grimoire?"

"That's what I wanted to know. So, I took a quick look through it." She tilts her head, giving a half-shrug. "I used a spell to find anything that said ascendant. And guess what? It talks about it. Our ascendant. There's an entire page on how to use it, but I didn't get the chance to read the whole thing before dad came back, and I didn't wanna risk ripping the page out."

Lizzie's eyes have widened, all pretence dropped. Josie can't help but internally celebrate at least a little bit. She knows Lizzie just as well as she knows herself, maybe more, in fact. Getting through to her when it's important is easy so long as she knows how to catch her attention and then keep a hold of it. 

"We need that Grimoire," Lizzie decides without hesitation, looking her in the eyes. "I could sneak in and grab it. You could easily distract dad, or—"

"I'll get it," Josie says. "I know where it is, so I'll be faster. Plus, Dad will get suspicious if you're hanging around his office within ten minutes of being home. You're usually up here unpacking or somewhere downstairs talking about where you went."

Lizzie thinks for a moment, then says, "I'll stay here, pretend I'm packing. If I start a conversation with someone, it'll be weird if I just abruptly end it with them. Besides, we need our full attention on this thing. No distractions."

Josie's admittedly surprised by how easy it was to flip her around on the subject, but she's pleased all the same. It means that they're on the same page, and that almost always increases their odds of actually achieving something. What exactly their goal is besides the big, obvious one, she isn't sure, but it bodes well for them anyway. 

Agreeing with Lizzie's plan, Josie quickly exits the room. She forces herself to blend and act like nothing is out of the ordinary, and everything is totally fine. When she goes to round a corner and spots MG on the other end of it, caught in some conversation with Landon, she hastily steers herself the other way.

Anyone else will buy into her act, but he's the only one who might actually see right through her. His concern and question of if she's alright, and his suggestion to go into town or do something fun in the hopes of cheering her up will only make her feel ten times worse about the fact that she still hasn't told him a thing about what's going on. 

It doesn't take her long to get into her dad's office, managing to avoid suspicion — and her dad himself, thankfully — and relocate the Grimoire's hiding spot. With a quick uncloaking spell, and a new glamour one in its place just to be safe, she takes it and hurries back out of the room and up the stairs. 

She practically flies back into her and Lizzie's room in record time, as if she had all the speed of a vampire, the door swinging open with barely a brush of her hand. Magic mixed with adrenaline has a habit of doing unexpected things.

Lizzie's eyes snap up to her, and with a wave of her hand, Josie closes the door behind her again.

The air shifts in the room, that sense of being vacuum-sealed inside rolling over her skin. There's already the distinct scent of sage burning over by the window. At a school of Supernatural teenagers who have no idea what the definition of the word privacy is, a soundproofing spell can come in handy. Josie commends Lizzie's thinking. 

She lifts the book clutched tightly in her right hand. Lizzie's gaze immediately goes to it. Her eyes widen, mirroring the expression on Josie's own face; nervousness, excitement, fear, that course of adrenaline at the thought of finally finding out what their dad has been keeping from them. Or at least one secret in the murky lake of them that's been slowly pooling, growing larger with each one that gets added over the years. 

"Is that it?" Lizzie asks, the way she does making it clear she already knows. 

Josie nods and quickly moves to join her on the bed, Lizzie already making room as she tucks one leg underneath her, the other hanging off the side. Opening up the cover, Josie flips through the pages so fast that they're no more than a blur until it stops, staying open on the page she marked with her magic. 

She turns the Grimoire and hands it to Lizzie, letting her take it to read over it for herself. Josie has already gotten an idea of what it says before grabbing it from beside a box that had been hidden away behind shelves of books and cloaked with magic of its own.

It's a good thing siphoners can undo pretty much any spell if they're strong enough. All that time spent with Penelope really did her some good in that department. There's a twinge in her chest, and she forces her mind not to stray.

She watches Lizzie's face as she reads the same paragraphs that Josie already has. Her eyebrows draw together, her mouth silently forming the words as she goes along, taking them in as fast as possible. Still, Josie almost feels impatient waiting for her to get to the end and know everything that she's learned over the course of the last few weeks.

"I'm sorry, a _prison world_?" Lizzie says incredulously without even looking up from the book, her eyes continuing to scan over the pages with her mouth practically hanging open. "This is completely barbaric, who would even create something like this?"

"I'm guessing our family," Josie answers, shaking her head as she eyes the book. "The Gemini Coven. But the details are so...elusive. The most I could figure out is that it was created as a sort of punishment for... I guess maybe witches or vampires? The why, how, and who are all still a little fuzzy."

"Well, at least we have this now."

Lizzie turns the Grimoire back towards Josie, presumably finished reading. She lays it in the space between them on the bed. Holding Josie's gaze, she taps her index finger against the page, a grin curving its way onto her lips.

Her eyes hold a spark of mischief and excitement, and such curiosity. It reminds her of when they were kids and discovered what they could do with their powers for the first time. Although, the memory is a little fuzzy in her head and she can't quite recall how it ended other than the flicker of flames she catches behind her eyelids.

As Josie drops her eyes back to the page, moving to where she's indicating, Lizzie continues, "This is what we've been looking for. This incantation is exactly what we need to use this stupid ascendant thing."

Josie rereads over the passage as Lizzie talks, her plan already fully-formed in her head as it spills out into the air, just waiting for Josie to jump on board without a second thought. They both already know it's not going to be that easy, but as soon as she realizes what Lizzie is hinting at, the words from the Grimoire sinking in, she's even less willing. She's more in favour of keeping her feet firmly planted on solid, safe ground. 

Shaking her head, Josie looks back up at Lizzie, wide-eyed and disbelieving. A part of her thinks she shouldn't be surprised; she read the Grimoire before bringing it, she knew exactly what was going to happen. Her hope and optimism just convinced her that, with Lizzie's newfound personality, maybe, for once, she would think rationally instead of forcing her to be the voice of reason. Again. 

"We can't," she says firmly, hoping that she isn't going to have to argue this.

Judging by the way that Lizzie's bright, hopeful expression slips from her face, she's guessing she should really stop trying to be optimistic. It's never worked out well for her, so why keep going along with it?

"Lizzie, no. That's insane."

"Come on, Jo," Lizzie practically whines. "You were the one who wanted me involved in this. So, here I am! And this is it! This is what you've been looking for! And — it's not like it's dangerous or anything! It's just one little incantation, and we'll still be safe and sound in our bedroom."

"We're not talking about magically face-timing mom, Lizzie," Josie hisses, leaning in closer as if someone walking by outside might overhear despite having already made that impossible. "We can't just... _project_ ourselves into a supernatural prison world that we barely know anything about, including why it was created and for who. That is a whole new level of stupidly dangerous, even for you."

Lizzie lets out a long, drawn-out sigh, accompanied by an exaggerated roll of her eyes that only has Josie's frustration flaring. Just for once, she'd like to not be convinced into caving. Especially not with this, something that even the thought of doing is making her go through all of the ways in which it could go horribly wrong.

With a shrug of her shoulder, Lizzie says, "fine."

Josie stops. She blinks, her mind coming to a halt. "What?"

This is completely unfamiliar territory for her. A semi-convincing protest was more along the lines of what she was expecting, and honestly, would probably have worked given a few minutes. Now, though, she's at a bit of a loss. Giving in has never been something Lizzie does. She pretends to give in and then guilt-trips. 

Lizzie holds her gaze, raising her eyebrows. "You told me that I don't acknowledge your feelings like a good twin should, so, here I am. You think we shouldn't do it, so we won't. That's what you wanted, right? For me to listen to you?"

There's not even a hint of sarcasm to her voice, feigning acceptance at giving in simply to prove a point about Josie being mad at her before the summer break. Her words are more sincere than Josie has ever heard her, the questions genuine, asking if this is what she meant and if she's doing better now. 

Josie will admit, it does bring her a little bit of joy and satisfaction, even if this was one of the only situations where she's probably just as curious as Lizzie and a part of her actually wants to go through with it. Which means she can't just do a complete one-eighty and deny Lizzie's point.

"It is," she says carefully, and a small smile settles on Lizzie's face, obviously pleased with herself. "But don't you want to know why dad hid this from us? I mean...I guess it's not _that_ dangerous. It did say that nobody in the prison world should be able to see us."

Lizzie somehow manages to keep her face blank, completely controlling her features with an unreadable expression masking them. She's never been good at hiding her emotions, and yet, it's like she's perfected it within the entire time she was away.

"That's true," she says, voice just as neutral. "We'd be like ghosts. But, if you don't feel it's a good idea because of how little we know about it, even though going may give us some answers, then we shouldn't do it. We can just... see if we can find something else."

Her uncertainty slips through on the last part. Her eyes flick back down to the book, then to where the ascendant's sitting to her left, discarded for now. She forces that same look from before, though, and quickly lifts her eyes back to meet Josie's, a determined glint in them.

As sweet as it is, and as much as Josie wishes she could go along with this, she knows that her own curiosity won't let her. Plus, Lizzie makes a good point; just a few minutes ago, she was doing everything she could to convince her to help her. She sighs.

"Alright, it says we're gonna need candles," she reads out from the Grimoire.

She doesn't even need to look up at Lizzie to see the bright grin spreading across her face; the triumphant little "yes!" that she mutters into the otherwise silent air around them is enough.

"It's not being very specific, so I think maybe five should do. It's the usual amount required for most spells."

"I'll grab ten, just to be safe," Lizzie says, her excitement barely contained, giving her voice a familiar lilt as she jumps up from the bed, already moving across the room to her own set of drawers. "They're obviously the most important part of the spell, aside from the magic itself, even if people do think they're only for the aesthetic. They're not just pretty, and people just don't get that."

Josie rolls her eyes but the corners of mouth curve up into a hint of a smile. Considering they were at each other's throats just before the start of summer break, this is an improvement. Even while she was angrier than she had ever been at Lizzie and had been doing her very best to keep as much possible distance between them, both physically and mentally, she missed her. Hearing her familiar complaints about the smallest things is comforting. 

As Lizzie goes about swiping up every candle within sight and setting them up around her bed, Josie picks up the ascendant. Sitting it in the palm of her left hand, she pushes at one of the thin circular dials with a finger, careful and slow. It looks like something an astronomer would use with all of its intricate little details and pieces. 

Even without the Grimoire, she knew exactly what it was the moment she found it, uncloaked due to the magic blackout caused by Triad. Reading up on everything she could find about the Merge helped her learn a few more things.

Even if the ascendant was only ever mentioned in one small passage in one confusing book. All she had known was that it had something to do with their Gemini side, like she told Lizzie. 

She sets the dial back to its original position, watching two more automatically turn with it like one of those Newton's Cradle's Penelope had in her room. When she asked about it, she said it was just something she plays with when she's bored.

There's a little tug in the back of her mind and chest, similar to the twinge of what she can only call heartbreak, but not quite the same. It's as if it's trying to pull her towards something.

Sitting in Penelope's room with her, someone walking in, a soft smile when they spotted it on her desk. She can't seem to recall who it was, just remembers that they had been looking for her.

Her eyebrows furrow, staring blankly at the ascendant. Something tells her that whoever they were, they spent a lot of time with Penelope, leaving her with that twist in her stomach whenever she saw them together. They would always be tucked away in a corner or exchanging hellos with bright smiles and quiet laughs.

She always wanted to go over and join in, spend more time with the two of them. And yet, only one of their faces is clear in her mind. The other is more like a blurry, distorted blob. The more she tries to pull it to the front of her mind, sharpen it out a bit, recall something they said to remind her of their voice, the more they seem to fade from her mind altogether. Almost like they don't even exist.

Lizzie makes a pleased little noise and Josie turns her attention back to her. She steps back, all the candles now set up around the bed, scattered around the room. Definitely more than ten. Knowing Lizzie, though, there's probably some pattern that she's missing, the reason behind Lizzie looking so satisfied with her work. 

Hopping back onto the bed, she looks at Josie and holds out her hands with a bright grin. "Wanna help me light them?"

It's not hard for Josie to tell she's missed this. It's not as if their mom doesn't let them do magic; she encourages it, even, loves watching them perform the simplest of little spells. She always says it reminds her of their aunt Bonnie. It's just that there's less opportunity when they're with her, and especially when separated.

Josie takes one of her hands. She places the palm of her other one flat against the Grimoire. Right away, there's that familiar tingle underneath her skin, the low hum of its magic quickly drawing toward her hand and seeping into the tips of her fingers, the centre of her palm.

It's warm as it travels up through her veins, mixing with the sliver of the magic she has left from siphoning the wall while walking down the hall a few hours ago when she was pacing and agitated at waiting.

That little spark clicks inside of her and she stops.

Filled with more than enough magic to perform the spell, they both say, "Incendia."

Each syllable is pronounced on both their parts, the spell perfected in their minds and as simple as breathing. Josie can barely even remember the first time they learned it. Their mom and dad always just said they picked it up from their Auntie Bonnie.

The candles spark to life, igniting instantly and casting a soft glow around the already-lit room. Josie lets go of Lizzie's hand, moving the other to the side of the Grimoire as she glances around, making sure they're all burning.

Satisfied on that part of the crazy plan, she turns back to find Lizzie already holding the ascendant and moving the dials around each other. She's not as gentle as Josie thinks she should probably be with a magical object created by a cursed coven.

Lizzie catches her staring and immediately stops, that deer-in-headlights look on her face. She shoots her an innocent smile then inclines her head towards the Grimoire. 

Josie rolls her eyes but looks back down at it, rereading over the same passage. A crease forms between her eyebrows and she instinctively chews at the inside of her cheek. For a magical prison world supposedly made to keep the supernatural in, it seems unsettlingly easy to visit it, even if not in a corporeal form.

Something about the whole thing isn't sitting right with her. But Lizzie's waiting for her to say what comes next, and the same curiosity that's gotten her this far doesn't seem to be in favour of letting her turn back now.

She straightens up slightly and Lizzie does the same right away, now holding the ascendant somewhat tentatively and away from her in both hands. There's a split second of hesitation where Josie questions herself again. Then she's reaching out and slipping her hands underneath Lizzie's. It can't go that badly, she's at least sixty-one percent sure.

"The incantation?" Lizzie questions as she tilts her head to try and see the Grimoire.

Josie looks down at it without really seeing, the words already memorized. It at least buys her a second of doubt before she forces herself into eighty-seven percent certainty. They need answers, and if projecting themselves into another dimension is the only way to get them, then so be it. 

Takin a deep breath, Josie begins to read aloud, "_Phasmatos Tribum, Invocia Cavea, Misero Mundi._"

Lizzie nods, quickly memorizing the words as well. She joins in on the next one, her voice a little louder than Josie's own but slow, taking care with each word to be sure it's right. Josie keeps her voice soft and smooth as if the incantation is part of a verse of a song, the words flowing like a melody.

It's not long before their voices blend together and the incantation is rolling off of the both of their tongues with ease, and Josie can feel that thrum of magic in time with her heartbeat. It spreads from her chest, down her arms, to her hands. It's warm and tingling, and it's like there's a cloud slowly filling her head, enveloping her senses. She closes her eyes and lets it.

Her stomach lurches and something gets thrown off balance inside of her head. Panic quickly building inside of her, she forces both eyes back open instantly. She expects to be greeted with the safe sight of Lizzie sitting opposite her, still able to feel her hands against her own, her legs tucked beneath her on the bed. Her eyes widen, and she can't seem to get them to close again now even to blink.

Lizzie's still in front of her, eyes firmly shut, but standing. The lack of tasselled cushions, brightly coloured duvets, and dark-brown wooden panels holding up the chalkboard above Lizzie's bed behind her tips her off, only confirming her first thought.

"Uh, Lizzie..." she says warily. 

Her eyes move around them, her head turning as she slowly takes it all in. She immediately recognizes the layout of the room, the fireplace quietly burning away in front of her, the colours of the wall. Even one of the paintings hung up on a wall to her left.

The couches are different, she quickly notes. They look older, more worn and used and yet taken care of as if they've been around for centuries.

The paintings surrounding them are all completely unfamiliar — save the one of the medieval-looking witch with her red hair that tumbles past her shoulders and flowing, dark green dress that looks as if it's made of the finest fabrics. It twists and wraps around her legs as if clinging to her like a safety net against some unseeable force. She's holding one hand out as if inviting the admirer to step into the frame and join her, the name McCullough scrawled just below.

She turns her head to her right and notices the doorway leading into another room, and when she leans her head back ever so slightly, catches sight of the familiar hallway, ducking in halfway down in favour of dark mahogany-coloured stairs that wind all the way up to the next floor. 

"Did it work?" Lizzie asks, now opening one eye to peer at their surroundings, then the other. Her eyebrows draw together as she glances around, taking in the same, all-too-familiar details. "Why does the prison world look an awful lot like our common room?"


	2. Is it just me or are you getting a weird sense of deja vu?

Josie lowers her hands to her sides, leaving Lizzie holding the ascendant. She turns halfway around. There's no mistaking that it is, in fact, their common room, even with the lack of people floating around and that thrum of magic that clings to the air. It's quieter and looks more like the boarding house that she remembers her mom telling her it used to be. It almost feels peaceful, in a way, and yet ominous at the same time.

"I think this prison world was created before mom and dad opened up the school," she voices, slowly moving away from Lizzie and over toward the entrance. It splits off on either side into long hallways covered in the same dark red wallpaper that clings to some of the walls of the school in the present day. 

A part of her has the urge to follow the one on her left until she reaches the top of the house, go along the hallway and pass by the many doors until she reaches her own and Lizzie's. The curiosity to know what it all looked like before it became their school — their home — is there, to fill in some of the blanks that their parents have left about the place. 

Every time she asks something about it, the answer is vague. Like if the cellars were always used to lock up the supernatural and why, or even a simple question about their uncle Damon, and Stefan, and their family owning it before them.

Her dad explains the tiniest of details, but his voice betrays him with the strain to it as if the memories it must hold are ones he's tried to forget. Her mom just goes quiet. She puts on a smile that's tight and obviously forced and answers in a way that makes it obvious she's not telling them everything.

The past has always been a touchy subject for them. Maybe this is her chance to find out why that is, and why their family has become a messy, tangled web of secrets and _oh, that's nothing _followed by a lightning-fast subject change.

"Well, yeah, I figured," Lizzie says, her own eyes darting around them. Her eyes narrow. "But why? Who would the Gemini Coven want to keep locked up in an older version of our school? And—" she sighs, throwing a hand up only to let it drop straight back down, an exasperated edge to her voice, "—why does having terrible taste in literally everything have to run in the Salvatore family? Honestly, I think I almost feel bad for Stefanie now that I know it's genetic and not personal."

Josie ignores her comment, pushing down the urge to roll her eyes. Her path has crossed with Stefanie Salvatore's a total of five times, and honestly, she's never seen the side of her that Lizzie claims is her constant personality.

If anything, she's sweet, albeit ready to whip out a sarcastic response to anything anyone says within her vicinity of hearing. A quality she apparently takes from both her parents. She can definitely see it in her dad, but she'll admit, she isn't entirely positive who her mom is, though she's sure she's met her before. Most are fuzzy snapshots in her head, though, rather than full-blown vivid memories for her to compare.

All she knows is that she remembers hearing her mom whispering to her dad about the possibility of Stefanie having to join the school. _Magic _and_ bloodline _were uttered so quietly and with such concern twisting around the two words that Josie decided it best not to let them know that she had overheard.

Also the reason she decided to not tell Lizzie that one of her many arch-nemeses, according to her, may be joining them. That would only end in disaster, and nothing even came of it anyway.

"Come on," Josie says, already turning away from Lizzie completely, her eyes locking on the doorway that, in their time, leads to the kitchen. "There has to be something here."

"You mean some_one_," Lizzie says, a hint of worry slipping through her voice, but is still close on her heels as Josie walks across the room. "This is a prison world for the supernatural, Jo. What if our lunatic relatives used this place to lock up an Original? There was, like, ten of them."

"Six," Josie corrects without thinking. 

Lizzie pauses in the doorway. She turns to stare at her with narrowed eyes as Josie stops alongside her. She frowns tries to wrack her mind for how she knows that. Why does it feel almost instinctual to talk about the Originals as if it's an everyday thing?

"I...read about them in one of the books in the library," she says, but even as the words leave her mouth, something doesn't feel right about them.

That's obviously a good explanation and one that makes sense. She just remembers details from the last time she got curious and started reading about Klaus Mikaelson, The Great Evil, and his siblings. That has to be it. 

Lizzie doesn't drop her suspicious stare for a good few seconds, obviously not convinced. Josie isn't so sure that she is either. Still, Lizzie lets it go as she turns her eyes on the room in front of them instead. That same little tug in the back of her mind returns the longer Josie questions what just happened.

Doing the same as Lizzie, Josie is relieved to see that the kitchen is the same as at home, if not just a little bit smaller. Some renovations were bound to have been made to accommodate for one-hundred supernatural teenagers, give or take a little.

"However many of them there were," Lizzie starts back up as Josie moves further into the room, seeking out anything even slightly amiss without really knowing, "there could still be one of them trapped here."

"Even if one of them is here, they won't know that we are as well," Josie reminds her, her eyes scanning over the windows, the table, the other doorway leading back out into one of the many winding hallways.

She glances over at Lizzie, catching the uncertainty distorting her unfazed mask. Something softens inside of her and she's reminded that Lizzie isn't fearless. Between them, she's always been the jumpier one. More easily scared and nervous about things when they get serious and she always has been since they were kids.

Josie can't remember when it started; it's just always been that way as far as she can remember. She sighs quietly and moves back over to her, watching her eyes dart around the room as if she's expecting something to jump out at any second.

"We'll be fine, Lizzie," she says softly, taking one of her hands in her own. "We're in this together."

Lizzie lifts her gaze, locking with hers. There's a wide look about her eyes, accompanied by an openness that Josie last saw a few days before the summer break when they both thought that she was going to die. She's afraid. But Josie's words seem to have the effect she was hoping for as Lizzie relaxes a little.

Nodding, she inhales and smiles, and her tone takes on a lighter, more joking note now as she says, "yeah, we are. Even the Originals can't get the best of us. After all, we're the wonder twins."

Josie's eyebrows draw together for a split second as she tries to recall where she's heard that before. Something involving their uncle Damon, she's sure. He's always coming up with the weirdest nicknames for them. Still, it makes her smile back at Lizzie.

Satisfied that Lizzie's worries have been assuaged for now, Josie sets her focus back on their original goal. Explore, find answers, possibly a supernatural creature or two. That middle one's a little more hopeful than the last.

Projection or not, she isn't fond of the idea of coming face-to-face with danger, even if it's all she seems to be doing lately. With the summer break coming to a close, she's certain that they will again soon.

"Okay, we need to think," she says, letting go of Lizzie's hand. "Why would the Gemini Coven create this prison world? It's clearly before mom and dad opened the school, but we could be in any era. We need something to start with. Something that might give us an idea as to why mom or dad never told us about this."

Lizzie's eyes dart away, scanning the room for just that. They lock onto something within seconds and her face lights up. She quickly moves away from her. Josie watches as she slides something off of the table, spinning back around with the cluster of papers clutched in her hand and a glint of excitement in her eyes. 

"In every single time travel or weird sci-fi movie, what is always the best way to figure out what year you're in when you end up in another dimension or whatever?" She pauses as Josie shrugs, raising her eyebrows at her. "A newspaper, duh."

Lizzie holds them up and Josie steps closer to her, taking one of the papers from the top of the pile. She unfolds it and her eyes go to the top of the page where the date is printed in smudged ink. She can still make each letter and number out clear enough.

"February 17th, 2018," she says aloud, despite Lizzie already reading it over her shoulder. It's more to herself, to try and figure out how that's even possible.

"But..." Lizzie's eyebrows have drawn together, staring down at the page, "we would have been, like, four-years-old then. I thought the entire freaky Gemini side died out before we were born. Isn't that the whole point of Mom trying to find a way to stop this merge? Because we're the last two? One of them would have to have survived to create this place. Right?"

Josie swallows, staring blankly at the paper, her eyes not quite focusing on it. Her mind is whirling and it's like she can feel the shift inside, trying to connect the pieces until they make sense. Except they don't, and Lizzie's right. 

"They lied to us," she says quietly. Her voice is devoid of feeling, simply stating the fact that's staring up at them. "Again."

"Maybe...they didn't know?" Lizzie tries, but the attempt falls flat.

They both know that the chances of that being true are slim, if not nonexistent.

She sighs, her frustration seeping into the noise. "Why do we have to have so many secrets? Why can't we just talk about these things, like a normal, functional family?"

"Because we're not normal," Josie supplies, bordering on joking. She manages a hint of a smile as Lizzie huffs. "I guess secrets and lies are a built-in part of the supernatural world. Our family just likes to one-up the rest of the world and go all-out with it."

Lizzie makes a noise of agreement, crossing her arms over her chest. It's obvious that the questions that are piling up on top of each other in Josie's head are the exact same as the ones going through Lizzie's. Part of Josie, for a split second, wishes that maybe they could have just been born into a normal life, without the supernatural. Maybe things would be easier. Or they wouldn't. 

"Setting aside our family's insane communication issues," Lizzie says with another sigh, and Josie smiles a little wider, "we still don't know why someone from the coven would have created this place. I don't know about you, but I don't remember any big bad vampires, witches, or werewolves running around and terrorizing Mystic Falls when were four."

"It could have been created for anyone for all we know." The realization sinks inside of Josie. "And this is a prison _world_. Not just one building. Which means that whoever was trapped here could be anywhere right now."

As if sensing the opportunity for an entrance, there's a loud crash of something hitting the ground, then another, just outside the kitchen. It's followed by a muttered string of curses, all seemingly aimed at the house itself.

Josie's eyes go wide, along with Lizzie's, watching them shift to her right and over her shoulder. A part of Josie doesn't want to move for a second, panic quickly setting in as she momentarily forgets they're merely ghosts in this world.

"Or they could be right here," Lizzie says, voice dropping to a whisper.

Her hand has flown to Josie's arm, gripping it with her fingers curled tightly around the sleeve of the soft, grey shirt that's part of their uniform, and she knows she needs to do something. The last thing they need is her magic reacting with her emotions and going so out of control that their connection grows too far. It's the first time that Josie has found herself wishing to stay a ghost. Invisible.

"Quick," she whispers urgently, already taking Lizzie's arm and tugging her backwards. 

She's met with no objections, and Josie hurries to guide them out of the kitchen and back around the corner of the doorway. Just in time, as less than a second later, there's the sound of shoes hitting against the linoleum of the kitchen floor. Each one echoes loudly compared to the quiet the house had been just moments before.

Josie presses herself to the wall, her heart knocking against her ribs as if asking for permission to enter into the world. She hopes that being a projection means that no vampires can hear her heartbeat, or else they've already given themselves away.

Lizzie's still got a grip on her arm, her other hand clutching the ascendant tightly. Josie thinks she should probably be worried about her breaking it and leaving them trapped as projections for the rest of their lives, but her attention's too focused on the noises coming from the kitchen. 

The footsteps continue, crossing the room as the curses turn into rambling sentences that Josie finds herself trying to follow. The voice isn't a familiar one, of course, and yet the more she listens, it's striking a nerve buried deep in the back of her mind.

"Is it just me," Lizzie says quietly, her voice barely carrying into the air as she turns her head to look at Josie, "or are you getting a weird sense of deja vu?"

It's strange and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, but Josie has to agree with her. Hushed whispers and trying to stay out of sight, and that _voice_ that's familiar to some part of her; it's like it's all happened before, but she just can't put her finger on why. And the fact that Lizzie is getting the exact same feeling only unsettles her.

The voice continues to float through the air as the person talks, presumably to themself considering the lack of a response. Josie inhales deeply, pausing for a second, holding the breath. She reminds herself that they're invisible and undetectable so long as they remain calm and in control. Exhaling, she edges an inch closer to the doorway.

She's immediately met with a sharp tug to the arm Lizzie is now gripping tightly with both hands, trying to hold her in place. As Josie glances back at her, Lizzie widens her eyes and raises her eyebrows, a look of incredulity crossing her face.

It's a familiar one, sent her way for a multitude of reasons varying from choosing to wear a specific jacket with a certain pair of shoes, to telling Lizzie that she's hanging out with Penelope. That last one isn't really an option anymore_._ There's another little stab to her chest.

Shaking it off, she sends Lizzie a look that she hopes conveys at least something close to assurance. After all, they can't get hurt when they're technically still sitting safe and sound on Lizzie's bed in their room back in the real world. Her eyes dart to the ascendant. She's really hoping the incantation is the only other thing they need to get back out.

It works as Lizzie reluctantly loosens her grip, her hands slowly lowering an inch or two, Josie turns back to the doorway and pulls away from the wall. She carefully leans forward, peering her head around the wooden frame, looking back into the kitchen.

Her eyes lock onto the source of the rambling voice instantly. The breath she had been about to take in gets caught midway down her throat, making it sound more like a quiet gasp. She watches him cross the kitchen, quickly taking in his features and his appearance as a whole.

His hair is a dark brown like her own, his skin a shade away from being as pale as her mom. He pushes the sleeves of his green and blue plaid shirt all the way up past his elbows as he dunks a distinct silver object into the sink. Josie's heart nearly stops at the glint of blood that catches the light from the window when he lifts it back out. 

The tugging is back on her arm, insistent now. Ignoring Lizzie's attempts to get her attention, most likely to fill her in on what's going on, she keeps her eyes trained on the man in front of her. He's tall and almost lanky, but even through the thin, invisible wall separating them from the world, she can feel the familiar swirling of power in the air, wrapping itself around him.

It's almost identical to the one that follows all of the vampires back home around, and yet, there's something off about it. The thrum of magic and her own power reaching up to join it, connecting with a part of her.

"Jo," Lizzie whispers now, verging on a hiss as she leans in close, her worry and fear growing until it begins to wear down her patience that was already walking a tightrope. 

Josie's about to tell her to be quiet. She feels her already in the process of moving from behind her to get a look for herself. Anything she was going to say doesn't make it past her lips as she goes completely still, Lizzie doing the same from beside her as the man turns back around. Her stomach drops.

There's something strikingly familiar about his eyes as well as the rest of his features. From a distance, she almost thinks they look the same shade of blue-grey that Lizzie's eyes are, but she can't be sure.

Even the slight slant of his nose, and the way that his mouth seems to stay curved up into a permanent smirk as if he's somehow always winning a game that no one else is playing. It's the same feeling someone would get when running into someone they've met once when they were four, or looking at old photos of relatives and noticing just how pronounced the family resemblance is, and who got what from whom.

It's making her head hurt and her stomach twist, and a part of her actually thinks she might throw up with the way her throat closes in on itself. Her body's just submerged itself in fear, her blood running cold until her skin does as well, and the worst part is that she has no idea why.

Lizzie sucks in a breath and Josie knows without even looking at her that she's thinking the same thing. They watch the man — though, now that she can see his face clearly, he looks no older than nineteen — stand at the kitchen counter that's now the resting spot for five books. They're all scattered out in front of him. One of them is open but he barely glances over it as he taps the knife against the edge of the counter as if absentminded.

"Okay, let's try this again," he says to himself, followed by a humourless chuckle and an empty grin that stretches his mouth as he shakes his head. "Attempt ninety-eight. Wow. I mean, how hard can celestial events be to create? Just a little bit of magic here and there, throw in a little bit of my blood and ta-da. That's not so hard, right?"

No response comes. He doesn't seem to have been expecting one and that unsettles something inside of Josie. She doesn't get much of a chance to dwell on it or just how wild the guy's eyes seem to be as they flick across the books, the tapping of the knife never ceasing even for a second. 

In the blink of an eye, something snaps in him. She barely catches his jaw clenching or the way his hand tightens on the edge of the dark wooden counter. His other arm goes swinging back as he lets out a frustrated scream and the knife slices through the air. The blade embeds itself into the counter with a sharp crack as the wood splits under the force of it, his fingers still wrapped around the handle. 

"Oh my god!" Lizzie breathes, startling as Josie accidentally backs into her.

The slight step backwards is enough to unbalance Lizzie, though. Josie turns around, but Lizzie's already knocked into the little wooden table behind her. The ascendant clatters out of Lizzie's hand and to the ground with a loud thud against the hardwood floors as a book falls from the table. It has the both of them nearly jumping ten more feet in the air before Lizzie's scrambling to retrieve the ascendant.

As soon as it's in her hands, she checks for any damage while Josie's attention goes back around the doorway, her heart thudding in her chest. The mystery man has gone completely still, staring at the doorway.

Josie's eyes widen, the fear and panic bubbling together in her stomach like one of the potions they made just last week in Chemistry of Magic. She's got a feeling that this is going to go just as well as that did. 

"Lizzie, we need to leave," she says urgently, lowering her voice as much as possible as she keeps her eyes trained on the now silent man.

He's still got a hand on the knife, and he barely even seems to be blinking, his eyes focused intently on the empty doorway. She glances back at the book on the floor, knocked out of place by their connection growing too strong in their moment of shock. Even with his unreadable expression, she knows that he heard it.

"But we didn't find anything yet," Lizzie argues as Josie turns her head, her eyes shifting to her, but she can tell that she doesn't entirely care about that. "You were the one who wanted me involved, remember? Don't you at least want to look around? We might find something."

"Not if we end up stuck here or dead. We need to leave _now."_

Lizzie hesitates, and Josie glances back into the kitchen worriedly. The man is moving now, dislodging the knife and walking slowly around the island. Thankfully, Lizzie doesn't try and argue it any further, her own fear obviously getting the best of her.

She nods as Josie turns back to her. Lizzie shifts the ascendant into the middle of both her hands, holding them out in front of her. Josie quickly moves her own back into the same position as before, grabbing both of Lizzie's in her own.

Closing her eyes, she draws on the magic underneath her skin, pulling it to the surface. There's a ticking in her head, though whether it's one of a countdown or a bomb about to go off, she can't decide. She just really doesn't want to know what happens when it's done.

The first word of the incantation is barely past her lips when there's that same lurching in her stomach, her head spinning as it goes off-kilter. She's completely still for a second, her eyes staying firmly shut. She worries that when she opens them, they're still going to be there, that the ascendant got damaged when it hit the floor or they needed something else to get back. 

Then, with a surge of relief, she realizes that she's no longer standing. She can feel the bed underneath her, and not just a faint reminder. There's the soft but slightly textured fabric of the little brightly coloured rectangles on Lizzie's comforter and even the heat of one of the candles right next to her ankle. Her stomach swoops but stops twisting so much when she forces her eyes open. 

She breathes out, her chest loosening at the familiar sight of their bedroom. Even though they were still in the same building, in their home, it didn't feel...right. It was like it was a completely different place. Colder, like it was swimming with one bad memory after another, filled with nothing but horrors. Almost like it was haunted.

Her mom never mentioned anything specifically bad about the house, just a few jokes here and there about it being the number one meeting place for the supernatural. Even her dad has never really said a bad word about the place. Thinking about it now, that's somehow more suspicious.

Josie drops her hands as Lizzie opens her eyes. She throws a glance around the room to be sure. The realization that they're back home seems to bring instantaneous relief. It stirs up a mixture of that and disappointment for Josie. unable to choose between which one is stronger as her shoulders slump a little. She had been hoping that the ascendant and the prison world would actually help them.

"That wasn't so bad," Lizzie tries, though doubt creeps through in her voice. "It could have gone a lot worse, right? It was only one guy — were you getting some serious witch vibes from him as well? He didn't look even remotely like he could be a Mikaelson, though — for one, the accent. Aren't they, like, British?"

"I knew it was a bad idea," Josie says, ignoring her question as she looks down at the Grimoire, still open in front of her. "We could have gotten caught there. We knocked something over, he must have heard us."

"He still wouldn't have been able to see us," Lizzie points out, though it does little to comfort Josie, and clearly herself. She sighs. "Look, we went, nothing went...completely wrong, and...I think we may even have gotten a lead."

Josie looks back up at her, drawing her eyebrows together.

"A lead? Even if this was one of those investigations from those shows, I think you may have mixed up the definition of lead with dead-end." She casts her eyes back down to the Grimoire. "We have no way of finding out anything else about this other member of the Gemini Coven, who could actually be dead by now. We're still at square one."

"Since when was I forced to be the optimistic twin?" Lizzie complains.

She closes the Grimoire over, snapping Josie's attention away from it with a sigh. She leans forward as if to whisper a secret, her expression turning urgent.

"Think about it," she says slowly, emphasizing each word carefully. "We find out there's another member of the Gemini Coven alive. Maybe more than one. And the one person that we see in the Prison World, in our_ home,_ just so happens to not only possibly be a witch but looks eerily familiar? Dare I even say, shares a striking family resemblance with someone? And _us_?"

Josie pauses, looking back up at her as she turns her words over in her head. She's already catching on, the not-so-subtle hints taking, but the fact that it even crossed Lizzie's mind is what she's trying to wrap her head around. There is absolutely no way, and she says as much.

"You can't seriously be suggesting what I think you are?"

Lizzie doesn't back down and Josie gapes at her. Despite the smell of sage still burning in the air, she lowers her voice, leaning in closer as she stares at her sister in disbelief.

"Lizzie, that is ridiculous," she says. "There's no way that...it wouldn't..."

Lizzie raises both eyebrows at her faltering. It wouldn't make any sense. There is no way that they could possibly have come across such a massive stroke of luck such as this, it's never that easy. Except, she realizes, it's not that easy.

That would mean their one "lead" and answer to their mountain of questions is trapped in a prison world that only a member of their coven could have created. Banished by their own people for who knows what. That's not even close to easy.

"Come on, Jo," Lizzie says. "We both saw his face. There's no way that it was a coincidence that he looked that familiar. There was something about him — and he clearly stated he was a witch. Maybe a crazy one, but that's not a big surprise if he's really part of the coven." Her shoulders slump. "Even you have to admit that right now, we have nothing to go on. Except for him."

Josie shakes her head, getting up from the bed. She turns halfway away from Lizzie as she tries to think. What if she's right? What if he's all they have to go on, their only way to get the answers that their parents refuse to give them? 

"It's not enough," she decides. Lizzie gapes at her, and she throws her hands out. "We know nothing other than that there was another Gemini alive after we were born and they created the prison world. That's it. We can't just go jumping to conclusions and assuming that this random witch is related to us just because he looks sort of familiar!"

She holds Lizzie's gaze, watching something flicker in her eyes. Reluctance. It slowly morphs into a bitter acceptance as Josie refuses to waver. Pressing her lips together, Lizzie frowns.

"Well, it sounds crazy when you put it like that," she says huffily.

"So, you agree?" Josie asks with relief. "We need to know more before we can assume anything."

"Yeah, alright. I'll let it go. But only until we find something else. Without going back to the prison world."

The last part is almost pointed as if she's the one who's glad about that part. Josie can't help but hesitate for just a second before she agrees. She isn't going to just assumes that Lizzie's theory is right, but she doesn't think that the prison world is a dead-end. But she makes the promise all the same.

Josie relaxes a little after that, assured for the most part. She doesn't doubt that Lizzie will drop it by tomorrow morning and will have found a new theory to focus on. She just doesn't want them to go diving headfirst into this whole mess only to complicate it even more.

Pushing aside any further thoughts of the witch and who he could be, Josie sighs and goes to move back towards the bed.

"Okay, we found the ascendant cloaked in Dad's office, right?" she says, taking a seat once more across from Lizzie as she nods. "So, maybe there's something else."

"Like another Grimoire?" Lizzie shakes her head. "I don't know, it doesn't seem likely."

Josie's eyes widen. "The Grimoire."

Lizzie's face scrunches, her eyebrows drawing together. "Yeah, that's what I just—"

Josie's already flipping the front cover open. She had completely skipped over the first several hundred pages when she found it, having been worried about someone catching her, and only focusing on the one her magic brought her to. All she had searched for was _a__scendant_. 

She flicks through the pages slower this time, letting the words sink in as she scans over them carefully, looking for anything that might be even remotely useful. Lizzie glances at her, then the Grimoire, seemingly catching on despite the confusion still lingering. 

"This is a Grimoire," Josie explains, but Lizzie simply raises her eyebrows. "Why do our human dad and our vampire mom need a Grimoire? It's not exactly being used to teach us or anyone else here anything, right?"

The realization dawns on Lizzie's face. "It belonged to a witch. Probably—"

"The same one who cloaked it," Josie finishes for her hurriedly, nodding in agreement as she continues searching through the pages. "And they would have had to have been close with mom or dad. Why else would they have cloaked this and the ascendant for them?"

"So, it's someone we might already know?" Lizzie guesses. Her shoulders drop and she shakes her head as her eyebrows furrow once more. "But why cloak it? The ascendant, I get. But why keep the Grimoire here?"

Josie struggles for an answer this time. She focuses on the words in front of her, hoping to catch one that'll make sense, give them something more than some witch in a prison world to work with.

"Maybe they thought it was safer here," she says uncertainly, glancing up at Lizzie. She raises a shoulder in a shrug. "If anyone did happen to find it, it just seems like a normal Grimoire like the ones in the library."

Lizzie eyes it, her expression wavering. "Then...how do we know it's not? What if mom and dad just got one of the witches here to cloak it because it's the only one that mentions the Gemini Coven and the ascendant? Not that it's all that insightful."

Josie frowns, but gives another little shake of her head, her eyes moving back down to the pages her hands have held the book open on momentarily. 

"It's a possibility," she says slowly, reluctantly. "But I don't think they would have gotten just anyone to cloak this. It doesn't feel like any other Grimoire. And — even if it doesn't belong to someone we know, it's still important. Clearly, whoever's bloodline this came from knew enough about the coven to mention the ascendant and the projection spell."

"You don't think it could have come from them, do you?" Lizzie asks, eyeing it a little more disdainfully as if it's tainted. 

"I feel like they would be mentioned more if that were the case," Josie points out, and Lizzie relaxes somewhat. "Grimoires are all different, remember? They all have unique spells and stuff from the bloodline it comes from."

Lizzie sighs, and Josie can sense the tell-tale signs of her starting to want the answers right away, handed to them on a plate without any complications. She wishes it were that easy as well.

"Well, there must be something in there about which family it comes from," Lizzie says.

She's already reaching out and turning the Grimoire, breaking Josie's hold on it before she can explain that's exactly what she had been looking for. She just watches Lizzie lean closer to start scanning through it just as she had been doing.

"So," Josie starts slowly, moving the pieces around in her head, "maybe if we can find out who the Grimoire belongs to, we might be able to ask them if they know anything else about the coven? They might even know about the prison world."

"And the freaky witch living in it who I definitely do not still think is part of the coven in any way."

Josie's lips twitch at the corners but it's progress. She just nods. "Exactly."

"Although, that's assuming that they even still live in Mystic Falls," Lizzie adds, her head tilting as her eyebrows raise slightly, her eyes still moving over the pages. "Or are alive. Or aren't some super evil witch who mom and dad stole this Grimoire from and would love to enact revenge on their only children in some Hansel-and-Gretel type way."

"I see you and MG are getting along better," Josie says with a smile. 

She tries to bite it back before it can grow further and send Lizzie into that spiral of accusing denial that they're practically friends now. Whatever her feelings, she has definitely noticed MG relaxing a little more than he used to with Lizzie around. No more rambling and trying to impress her, much to her own relief. 

Lizzie glances up at her, attempting a half-hearted glare. She drops it a second later as she shrugs and looks back down at the Grimoire, flipping the page over. 

"He's funny," she says. "And has surprisingly good taste in books. I see why you have a thing for him, though I still don't totally understand it."

Josie stops, her smile dropping. "What?"

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I totally get it," Lizzie says without lifting her eyes as if she hadn't heard her. "He's sweet, and he manages to find a way to talk about you nearly every time we're talking, but I just can't imagine having feelings for him. You should go for it, though, he's clearly _smitten _with you."

Josie doesn't know how to respond other than gaping at Lizzie in disbelief. She has no idea where she picked up the idea that she has feelings for MG, but her heart is beating too fast and her skin is heating up. Especially her face. 

"I don't..." she starts, but Lizzie just glances up at her again, lingering long enough to raise her eyebrows this time. 

"Yeah," Lizzie says with a smile, "you do. But, putting aside any potentially evil witches who may or may not want to kill us," she continues before Josie can respond, or even react, "we need to make sure that dad doesn't—"

As if reading Lizzie's thoughts, there's a knock at their door. 

"Girls, your mom's on the phone," their dad's voice calls through to them. 

Josie's panic is mirrored back to her on Lizzie's face, both of them going completely still as if he might just go away if they don't make a sound. But there's a slight creak as the handle starts to twist. 

Stomach swooping, Josie quickly gestures at the book. Lizzie shakes her head sharply, but her eyes are already darting around the room as she closes it over. The floorboards outside the room creak.

Josie half-dives for the book, ready to throw a cloaking spell over it again if necessary. Lizzie's already leaning over the edge of the bed with it though and quickly stashes it in the narrow space behind the little wooden table next to them. A candle balanced precariously on the books on top wobbles and Josie sucks in a breath. It stops.

With a wave of Josie's hand, the flames of the candles extinguish just as the door opens. They both turn to their dad as he stands in the doorway. He holds the phone up then pauses. His eyes dart around the room, his eyebrows drawing together. 

Josie's panic quickly returns as she notices something shining out of the corner of her eye. A round object, gold-ish and sitting next to Lizzie on the bed, completely forgotten about. Lizzie catches her eyes, obviously noticing it as well as she presses her lips together, her eyes sliding to her left ever so slightly. 

"Invisique," Josie mutters under her breath, only loud enough for her to hear.

The word slips from her tongue without thinking, and she barely registers it, as if acting on instinct. When she glances at where the ascendant had been seconds ago, it's gone. It worked, though, what exactly "it" is, she isn't entirely sure.

"Are you burning sage?" her dad asks, eyeing the still-burning herb in corner of the room suspiciously. He looks between the two of them. "What are you up to?"

Wide-eyed, Lizzie quickly saves them. "We were just practising. Dorian said something about making sure to go over basic spells every now and then to make sure we don't get rusty in one of our last classes and we...just wanted to test out the herbs we have. Make sure they haven't gone bad or anything."

Josie commends Lizzie on her quick thinking yet again. It's a good excuse, especially while on the spot.

He stares at them with narrowed eyes. Josie barely dares to breathe, worried that her magic is going to slip and the ascendant is going to reveal itself right in front of him or he's going to somehow guess exactly what they're doing.

Then a familiar voice comes through the phone and his features soften. Josie relaxes and catches Lizzie doing the same out of the corner of her eyes as he holds the phone out towards them. 

"Your mom wants to talk to you," he says.

Josie quickly moves from the bed and accepts the phone, crossing back over to join Lizzie with it. He nods and smiles at them both, though it doesn't quite reach his eyes. The last few weeks have been hard on him.

After he held the assembly to tell them what had really happened with Triad, he left the vote up to all of them. The majority vote came back for him to no longer be headmaster, even with Lizzie and Josie voting for him to stay.

He hasn't exactly been taking it, too, well if the length his beard has grown to is anything to go on. And she guesses that with the summer break ending in a few days, he's not looking forward to finally having to leave the school, having only been allowed to stay until her mom comes back. 

The door closes behind him, but the silencing spell was broken the second he opened it. Josie just sinks back down on the bed and shoots Lizzie a relieved look that's returned in equal measure before hitting speaker on the phone.

"Hey, mom," Lizzie says, and Josie shoots her another look, pointed this time at the crack in her voice. She's always been terrible at keeping secrets. 

"Hey," their mom says, the smile in her voice even through the crackle of the bad reception. "Just checking up, wanted to make sure that you got back there alright."

"The flight was fine, and I'm home now," Lizzie tells her, clearly trying to keep her cool. "And Jo's totally jealous of Greece like I told you she would be. Aren't you?"

Josie glares at her, but Lizzies waves a hand with urgency. She rolls her eyes but goes along with it.

"Yeah, it sounds like it was amazing," she says, shaking her head as Lizzie sinks with relief.

Their mom laughs lightly on the other end. "Well, I'll be sure to take you there next time. And maybe we can have a visit to Belgium? We haven't been there yet..."

Josie pauses and looks at Lizzie. Judging by the sheepish look on her face and how she bites her lip under her stare, Josie's right. She doesn't know whether to be mad or a little happy that she's clearly been paying more attention to her postcards than she thought.

"I know Penelope's parents really well," her mom adds, confirming it for her. "And they would love for you to visit. I can take you there soon if you want? It could be fun. There's actually a lot to see in Belgium!"

Josie smiles, and for once, the stab in her stomach isn't one of pain. It's excitement, lighting up a little at the suggestion.

"That sounds great," she agrees, and Lizzie relaxes across from her. 

"I'll talk to your dad then, see when I can get the two of you back out here with me, yeah?" Their mom's sudden hesitation is obvious even through the phone. "Speaking of your dad..."

There's a pause. A beat goes by and they look at each other. They both know more or less where that's going.

"I'm coming home tomorrow, okay?" she says, managing to skip over the obvious part, and it's clearly news to Lizzie. "We can talk then, properly. About all of it. I'm gonna get a flight tomorrow morning, and... I'm sorry. This was all supposed to have been figured out already. I should... I should have been there when you found out."

"You should have told us," Josie says, but her voice is soft and understanding while Lizzie ducks her head. "Have you found anything? I know dad said that you haven't yet, but we thought he might just not want to tell us until you get home."

There's another pause and they both hear the inhale this time. 

"Uh, not yet," she says, that forced positivity in her voice. "But we will. I promise you, girls, we will figure this out. But for now, I'm gonna come home, okay? I miss the two of you."

"You just saw me," Lizzie points out, light and an attempt at brushing the whole thing off. She then looks down at the phone and adds, "we miss you, too, mom."

"Yeah, we do," Josie agrees, nodding as her eyelids start to burn a little. She blinks it away.

"Okay, right," their mom says, "I will see you both in two days then. Try not to let your dad go crazy before then, yeah? I can't imagine what a nightmare the school must be right now. Hopefully, we can fix that. I love you, girls. So much."

Lizzie bites her lips and looks away. The shine in her eyes doesn't go unnoticed. Josie swallows and sucks in a breath. 

"We love you, mom," she quickly says.

Then the call is over, and she tries to cling to the sound of her voice. It's been getting harder the longer she's gone, even with the calls. Part of her desperately wishes that she had just gone with Lizzie instead of staying behind to do more research. A few days isn't that long, though.

Josie sets the phone on the bed and lifts her head to look up at Lizzie. She pretends not to notice her blinking a little too fast before she meets her eyes.

"Are we still doing this?" Lizzie asks seriously. "With mom coming home and all?"

Josie pauses to think it over, then nods. "Yeah, we're still doing it. There's no point in putting it off. But...maybe we could ask her about it. She's being honest now."

Lizzie's eyebrows shoot up and Josie would think she's just sprouted three new heads with the way that Lizzie's staring at her. 

"She might tell us the truth now," she points out. "There's no reason for her and dad to keep lying to us about this stuff. So, let's give them a chance to tell us everything. About the coven, our relatives, the Prison World, and the ascendant. All of it."

Lizzie hesitates, shaking her head slowly. With a sigh, she gives in.

"Okay, let's do it," she says. Her eyebrows then furrow as she wipes discreetly at the corner of her eye and glances at the empty space beside her on the bed. "By the way, what was that with the ascendant? I didn't know you could cloak something that fast. What spell did you use?"

"I have no idea," Josie admits. "It just...slipped out. I guess I must have read it somewhere."

"Well, could you maybe undo it so that we can put it somewhere safer?" Lizzie waves a hand vaguely at where the ascendant is, continuing, "Or else we're gonna end up having no ascendant because I forgot it was there and kicked it off the bed and smashed it."

Josie quickly nods and goes to do exactly that. She pauses. 

"Uh...I don't know the uncloaking spell."

Lizzie stares at her incredulously. "You used a cloaking spell on the ascendant to a prison world without knowing how to uncloak it?"

"I panicked!"

Rolling her eyes, Lizzie says, "I suppose it can't be that different from any other cloaking spell. Just have to—"

She waves her hand through the area where the ascendant should be. Her eyes close and it takes a second, her lips moving but no words being voiced aloud. Josie blinks and Lizzie's hand is wrapped around the ascendant. 

She grins, moving it into her palm. "See? Not so different."

"Great," Josie says, and glances around their room. "Now to hide it. Preferably somewhere better than behind your table."

"It was good, quick thinking!"

Josie raises her eyebrows but doesn't argue as Lizzie gets off the bed and looks around. It doesn't take long for them to decide that cloaking it again is the safest way to go, along with the Grimoire. They end up stashing both of them behind the loose panel of the windowsill on Josie's side, where she's been hiding the diary Penelope gave her.

Satisfied that they're safely tucked away, Josie decides that all that's left to focus on now is finding out who the Grimoire belonged to, and how they're connected to the Gemini Coven. That, along with their mom coming back, their dad still fired, and the new semester starting in less than a week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter!! I hope that anyone reading this is enjoying it so far, and I honestly cannot wait to post the rest of the chapters! Please, feel free to tell me if you're liking it so far. I may be done writing it, but feedback warms my heart and constantly brightens my day. Any predictions for what's going to happen in the future chapters?? ❤


	3. New Orleans it is then

"It's not Emma," Josie says firmly, barely throwing a glance at Lizzie, clearly trying to leave no room for argument.

Lizzie stares at her in disbelief. "You don't that know that!" she scoffs, her eyes darting all around them.

She quickly straightens up and acts inconspicuous as they pass by two guys. Neither of them pays any attention to them, too engrossed in their own conversation. Lizzie would, on any other day, be offended considering she only just got back yesterday, but she can't bring herself to care. She breathes out a sigh and turns back to Josie, lowering her voice. 

"Would you at least consider the possibility?" she asks, throwing a hand out. "She's a witch. It could make sense!"

Josie rolls her eyes and finally stops in her tracks. She closes the book in her hands over with a sharp snap and turns to face her with raised eyebrows, forcing Lizzie to come to a halt in front of her.

"Just because she's a witch, it doesn't mean it's her Grimoire," she says, and Lizzie's positive she just found a tenth way to say the exact thing she's been repeating all morning. 

"Dad doesn't know any other witches! Except for Aunt Bonnie, but she's barely even ever here, and as far as I'm aware, weird traveller magic doesn't actually count for needing a Grimoire, so it's not Aunt Elena either."

"I'm not saying that Emma didn't cloak it," Josie quickly points out. "Just that I don't think it's her Grimoire."

She pauses, now glancing around them as well. They're both antsy about talking about it in public, but Lizzie is sure she could be on to something. It's not as if they have anything else to go on, and Josie says they shouldn't bring the Grimoire out of it's cloaking spell unless strictly necessary. 

"Jo, she is the only possible witch around here that we have right now," Lizzie says, pleading. "Would it really hurt to at least look into it? See if we can find anything out from her?"

"How exactly do you expect to do that when she isn't even here?" Josie asks, throwing a hand out in a vague gesture. She raises her eyebrows as Lizzie's shoulders drop slightly. "She's on sabbatical, remember? Unless you think we should ask Dorian?"

Admittedly, Emma's temporary leave slipped her mind in the middle of everything going on. And in her defence, she's been away for seven weeks. It hadn't exactly taken priority considering their dad got fired, and the whole she's-gonna-die-when-she-turns-twenty-two thing.

"Definitely not," she says, shaking her head. "Dorian offered yesterday to fill in for her on my usual appointment with her this week, and..." She just shakes her head again. "No."

Josie sighs. "Alright, well...we could search her office?"

Lizzie's eyebrows shoot up, and she can't quite conceal her surprise at how easily she suggests it. Though, she really thinks she shouldn't be considering it was Josie who went sneaking around their dad's office in search of anything that might clue them in on how to work the ascendant while she was sunbathing on a beautiful beach in Greece.

"What if we get caught?" Lizzie asks warily. "Dad or Dorian might see us. I don't think either of us want them finding out we know about the ascendant or the Grimoire. Dorian might be clueless for all we know, but dad certainly isn't."

"We'll be discreet," Josie assures her. "In and out as fast as possible. Plus, all of her appointments have been taken over by Dorian and Uncle Tyler for now, so no one's going to walk in without warning. They'll never know."

Lizzie breathes out and goes to answer but quickly stops herself when a small group of people walk past. She pays them little attention, simply waiting for them to pass. Josie, on the other hand, smiles at one of the girls in the group. Serina. She vaguely remembers Josie mentioning something about her being one of the witches trying to help with Rafael's situation.

For a second, Lizzie almost worries the girl is going to break away and come over to talk to them. Thankfully, she just smiles back but doesn't slow for a second to even give a quick hello. 

"I'm totally in," she whispers as soon as they're out of earshot, which, considering two of them are vampires, means out of the hallway completely. "We'll search her office, and if we can prove the Grimoire's hers, then...I don't know what we'll do after that, but we'll figure it out."

Josie doesn't seem so assured by the part of the plan. She doesn't argue, though, as Lizzie starts back down the hall. She falls into step beside her, both heading for Emma's class, currently being taught by Dorian. A part of Lizzie faintly wonders if he's secretly a witch and failed to mention it. 

"What if it's not Emma, though?" Josie asks quietly, leaning in a little closer to lower her voice as they round the corner and are met by more students. 

Lizzie shoots her an exasperated look, her mouth already opening to point out that she's already agreed to the plan, there's no backing out now. Josie notices and quickly shakes her head.

"I just mean what are we gonna do if it turns out it isn't her Grimoire?" she corrects. "Then we're back to square one and have nothing to go on."

"Then we'll stick with the plan," Lizzie says as if it should be obvious. "We'll keep going through the Grimoire until we find something that could give us a hint. Like you said, Grimoire's are unique to the bloodlines."

She shrugs as they reach the classroom, the door closed over. She turns to face Josie and catches a glimpse of the people already inside, early as always. Josie would have been one of them if weren't for all of this, she's sure.

"There's bound to be something in it that tells us where it comes from. It can't hurt to look."

Then she turns back around and walks into the classroom, smiling at Dorian as he greets her warmly. MG catches her eyes from a seat in the second row and her smile directs at him instead, already moving to take the seat in front of him, leaving the one on his left open. For Josie, of course, no matter how much she denies it.

"I hope it doesn't," she hears Josie mutters behind her before following.

* * *

Caroline lowers her phone with a sigh. She goes to put it away only to catch sight of the background and pauses. It's the most recent photo she managed to get of the girls together when they were in Paris, more than three months ago at this point. They were so excited about going to Paris.

They had stopped in Place de la Concorde on the way to the Louvre Museum — Josie's number one priority — and sat down on the edge of the fountain in the middle of the square. She couldn't help but get a photo of the two of them as they joked around, so at ease and laughing with each other about something simple. They were so happy in that moment.

Her heart clenches as she remembers everything that's happened recently. She can only picture their reactions to Alaric having to tell them about the merge at last. She tried her best to talk to Lizzie about it, get some sort of insight on how she was feeling about the whole thing, but she brushed her off every single time as if it no big deal.

It's obvious to her that she's trying not to think about it. It makes her feel powerless, and Lizzie has never liked not being in control. It'll be easier once she's home and will be able to sit with the two of them and talk it out properly. But this wasn't how their lives were supposed to be. They were supposed to have found a way around the merge already so that they would never have to dread the outcome of their own future.

"Care?"

Blinking, Caroline tears her gaze away from the photo. She slips her phone into her pocket and turns to face Bonnie.

"Alaric says everything's okay for now," she says, nodding in the hopes that the words will convince herself. "Lizzie's settling back in alright, and they're, uh...still handling it. They don't seem to be taking it too badly, but he thinks that might just be because of everything that's happened. We missed some pretty interesting things by the sounds of it."

"Yeah, I heard about some of it." Bonnie raises her eyebrows. "Can't say I'm sorry we missed it."

"I still wish we had been there," Caroline says, shaking her head. Just thinking about it has her stomach turning. "We've never even heard of Triad before a few months ago, and they tried to take over. They practically held the kid's hostage. I mean, who does that?"

"I'm just glad that they're all okay," Bonnie says, though a hint of worry still sticks in her voice. "They must have been scared out of their minds."

"I can't believe they were actually the ones who got rid of them. Lizzie told me everything, and it seems like some of them are trying to follow in their families footsteps. Certain people especially."

"As long as they don't follow too closely," Bonnie says with a small smile.

"Yeah, I'm with you on that one," Caroline breathes out. "I never want them to go through what we did. Any of it. I just..."

She sighs again, looking away, and both their smiles fade. That image of Lizzie and Josie sticks in the back of her mind. As does Jo and Liv's grief after Luke merged with Kai. The fear that Liv and Luke both had at the thought of one of them having to kill the other. The damage that the entire merge has caused.

"I want to be able to protect them," she finishes quietly. 

As if perfectly on cue, a voice comes through the speakers, loud and crackling as they announce the boarding of the next flight, heading to Virginia. Their flight. 

"Oh thank god," Caroline says as the relief settles in her chest. "I thought it was delayed."

Just a few hours and they'll be walking right back into Mystic Falls. A part of her has done nothing but want to return since she left, but the thought almost feels strange now. Nothing will have changed, and yet it always feels like something has.

She's already got a hold on her suitcase and is about to move for the line that's starting to form when Bonnie stops her.

"Wait, we can't leave yet," she says, stepping in front of her. 

Caroline's shoulders drop. "_What?_"

"That lead we were following a few months back?" Bonnie quickly continues. "The one we thought was a total dead-end? Not such a dead-end after all. That's why I came out here, but I couldn't exactly say anything with Lizzie around. It turns out there is really a witch who knows something, but if we get on that flight, our chance to get any information out of them goes with it. Apparently, they're already packing up to leave and I don't know where to."

"Seriously?" Caroline asks in disbelief. "Someone actually knows something about the merge?"

Bonnie nods. Caroline's stomach swoops. A spark of the hope she was slowly beginning to lose ignites back up in her chest. This is the first lead that might actually pan out for the first time in months. Although, it's not exactly the first time that they've been hopeful.

"Oh my god. Okay, uh, I need to call Ric."

"There's just...one little thing," Bonnie says nervously as Caroline lets go of her suitcase in favour of digging her phone back out of her pocket. 

She pauses with it in her hand, already halfway into calling Alaric. She looks up at her, and her entire body tenses just at the look on her face. Whatever it is, she knows she isn't going to like it.

"The witch is in New Orleans," Bonnie explains.

Caroline's blood runs cold. Or at least, the bag of B positive that's running through her veins runs cold. It quickly fades, though, her stomach turning once more as she sucks in a breath. Nodding slowly to herself, she swallows and looks back up at Bonnie, a determination overtaking anything else that might be trying to push its way to the surface.

"New Orleans it is then," she says. 

Bonnie's expression wavers, the uncertainty written all over her face. Caroline rolls her eyes but smiles gently at her.

"It'll be fine," she assures her. "It's been...a few years. I'm not going to turn my back on the one lead that might actually help us just because it so happens to be in New Orleans, where..."

She trails off, her heart sinking. Bonnie looks back at her with that familiar sympathy in her eyes, but Caroline simply brushes it off. As she said, it's been years. It shouldn't still bother her. Lizzie and Josie are all that matters anyway.

"I'll call Ric and tell him, but can you find out when the next flight to New Orleans is?" she asks.

Bonnie nods and goes to do just that, leaving Caroline as alone as she can be in the middle of an airport bustling with people.

She clicks Alaric's contact and calls him for the second time in a day. She gnaws at her lip as she listens to it ring by her ear. They rarely ever talk this much unless it's for the girls or matters of the school. Something that they've had to do a lot lately. It never fails sets her on edge.

Just before she thinks it's going to go through to voicemail, there's the tell-tale crackle of it being picked up. "Caroline? What's wrong?" 

Caroline exhales quietly, her eyes closing briefly, but it does nothing to assuage the tight knot in her chest. 

"We might have something," she explains in a rush and quickly presses on before he can respond, "there's someone in New Orleans, and Bonnie just found out that they might actually know something. We're going to get on a flight as soon as possible tonight and head there, so hopefully, by tomorrow, we might know more."

"That's — that's great!" Alaric says, the hope in his voice evident even through the phone. He sighs, the sound relieved and a perfect summary of exactly what Caroline herself is feeling. "Call me as soon as you know something. Anything. Just...tell me what you guys find out."

"I will, I promise," she says, nodding frantically. 

There's a slight pause, and it's just long enough for a smile to start to form on Caroline's lips. 

"What do I tell the girls though?" Alaric asks after a beat.

The smile slips off her face. She closes her eyes, trying to think. They've had this conversation one too many times before Lizzie and Josie knew about the merge. About what she's really doing. She can't imagine the disappointment would be any less, even now.

"I guess it has to be the truth," she says. "That I've got a lead, someone who mi—"

"No."

Caroline blinks, taken aback, her mouth still open. Her eyebrows draw together as she gives a slight shake of her head.

"What do you mean 'no'? Ric, they know the truth now. They know that I'm not just off searching for new students." She waves her hand around her, ignoring the glance she gets shot by a person nearby in one of the chairs. "We can't just lie to them again."

"I'm sorry, Caroline, but I'm not going to tell our daughters that there is a _possibility_ that some witch we've never heard of before today knows _something_ that _might_ stop them from having to merge their souls into one when they're twenty-two."

Caroline gapes at him, and for once, she really wishes she were face-to-face with him if only so she could give him that incredulous look that even Damon says gives him the shivers. 

"I understand not wanting to get their hopes up," she says slowly, "but we said we wouldn't lie to them anymore."

"Yeah, well, you're not the one who has to see the disappointment on their faces every time you have to cancel. That's gonna be a hell of a lot easier than giving them hope for something that's likely not even gonna turn out be anything."

"Are you serious right now?"

Caroline glances around, quickly turning her back on the rest of the airport to face out the window. When she speaks again, she lowers her voice, moving a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"I wanted to be there," she whispers angrily, the hurt shining through in her voice. "Every single second. You know that. But I needed to be here, looking for a way to save their lives. Or have you forgotten that? I am trying to make sure our daughters get to live past twenty-two and aren't forced into a cursed coven. Both of them."

There's a sigh on the other end. It's weary, and she can sense the exhaustion through the phone. Her chest tightens. A lot really does seem to have been going on while she's been away. She knows that being fired is hitting him hard, having heard of some of what was going on through Josie's postcards to Lizzie.

"I know," Alaric says, his voice quiet. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I just..."

Caroline's shoulders relax and the anger starts to slip away. "I know."

She closes her eyes as they both fall silent. This is one of the reasons they've agreed that it's easier for her to just call either Lizzie or Josie rather than him. She wishes it were easier, but Mystic Falls has thrown them so many complications that she's not even sure she knows what easy would look like. Certainly not this.

"Don't lie to them, Ric," she pleads, shaking her head to herself. "They deserve the truth."

There's a pause. Caroline looks out the window that stretches from ceiling to floor. All that stares back is her reflection, the sky outside too dark to make out anything more than the outline of a plane taking off. She's almost waiting for the distinctive crackle of veins underneath her eyes.

"Okay," he says at last, and she exhales. 

"Good," she says. "I'll, uh...call you when we get there. After we've talked to the witch."

"Sounds good." Another pause. "Stay safe, Care."

Her eyes close again, her stomach twisting. "I will. You and the girls, too."

She hangs up. There never seems to be a good way to end their conversations anymore. Once she and Bonnie are back home, she's sure everything will be fine. It might take some time, but things will return to normal. She has to believe it's that easy, because otherwise, the thought of Mystic Falls makes her heart ache.

She slips her phone back into her pocket. For a second, all she does is stare at her reflection. The glint on her left hand catches her attention. She lifts it, slowly twisting the ring around her finger. She was supposed to take it off. She promised herself she would take it off.

"Okay, so the next flight to New Orleans is in an hour," Bonnie says, appearing beside her in the window reflection. "The guy at the desk managed to change our tickets since there were a few extra seats left."

Caroline turns to her. "You're a life-saver, Bonnie."

"Well, that was more of a past occupation, sort of left that behind in Mystic Falls," Bonnie jokes, her mouth curving up at the corners. She shrugs. "But I'm glad to be here. For moral support only, of course."

Caroline just smiles as Bonnie's eyes drift down. Her expression falls slightly, but softens, flicking her gaze back up to look at her. There's that familiar walking-on-eggshells-sympathetic look, and Caroline follows her gaze. She pauses, realizing she had still been absentmindedly playing with the ring. 

"Come on," Bonnie says, smiling gently as she inclines her head, "we're gonna be waiting another hour. Might as well get some coffee. You can even tell me your exact plan of action for once we get off the flight, from plan A to minus Z."

Caroline looks back up at her, and she can tell that she's just offering up something to take her mind off of everything. It's how they've both been getting through the last few years when they're not at home. 

Smiling, she nods and accepts the arm Bonnie has held out to her. Even just five minutes spent talking to her best friend as if nothing's changed sounds appealing, and might just be the trick that she needs to clear her head. 

* * *

Josie peeks her head out from behind the corner at the sound of a door clicking into place. She watches Dorian leave Emma's classroom, walking down the hall in the opposite direction from where she and Lizzie are waiting. 

"This feels ridiculous," Lizzie whispers, though it's still too loud and has Josie whipping back around to glare at her. She rolls her eyes in obvious exasperation but lowers her voice all the same. "We _live_ here. No one's going to find it suspicious if we're in one of the classrooms."

"I'm not taking that risk," Josie says. 

She turns back to look down the hallway just in time to catch Dorian disappearing around one of the corners. Lizzie's moving out from their hiding place before she can even confirm he's gone. Scoffing, she moves to follow her and quickly slips in through the door, closing it again silently behind her. 

"What exactly are we looking for again?" Lizzie asks, her eyes darting around the room as if expecting something to just appear right in front of them. 

"Anything that could potentially tie her to the Gemini Coven or the ascendant," Josie says, moving further into the room to join her. "Not that I think we're actually going to find anything."

Lizzie turns on her. "What is with you?"

Josie blinks, taken aback. Lizzie just waves a hand at her.

"Since we found that stupid ascendant, you've been completely pessimistic about literally everything," she continues, her eyes flicking over her as she shakes her head. "I've never had to be this positive in my life, and it's exhausting. But clearly one of us needs to be or else we're never going to get anywhere, which is ridiculous since this whole thing was your plan in the first place."

She has the audacity to roll her eyes right before turning away from Josie, making her way over to Emma's desk. Josie stares at her in disbelief. She tries to brush it off but only gets as far as pressing her lips together.

"I don't know," she says, unable to stop herself as she looks around the room for anything that could stand out, "maybe I'm just not in a very upbeat mood considering we found out that we're going to have to merge when we're twenty-two or we die. Sorry I'm not handling it as well as you are. I can't just fly off to Greece and forget about it."

"You think I'm handling this well?" Lizzie scoffs as Josie looks back over at her, pausing by one of the desks. "Why do you think I left, huh? Or why I agreed to even help with this? You think I'm not going out of mind worrying about how many years we have left or how we're wasting every second?"

Josie stops. She watches Lizzie yank open a drawer and keep her eyes on it as she continues, her voice betraying her emotions like it always does. 

"Besides, if either of us is going to be all doom-and-gloom about the merge — which we still have six years until, by the way — then it should be me." She pulls a confiscated ball from the drawer, glancing over it in disdain before discarding it as a bitter edge pierces her voice. "After all, I'm the one who's going to be absorbed by you."

"We don't know that," Josie quickly says, her heart jumping a beat. 

Lizzie scoffs again and looks up at her just long enough for their eyes to lock. Whether it's the twin bond, or just a general understanding of how the other works, Josie isn't sure. Either way, something passes between them, and Lizzie's expression softens, almost looking guilty. 

She ducks her head, busying herself with continuing to dig through the clearly useless drawer. "Out of curiosity, what exactly are we going to do if we do find something that connects Emma to that Grimoire? And the ascendant?"

Josie forces herself to turn back around, trying to shake what Lizzie said out of her mind. She places her hand flat on the wood of the desk to her right as she thinks. She moves forward slowly, shaking her head as she slides her hand to the next desk, waiting for that tell-tale jolt to spark to life underneath her skin.

"If we can get a hold of her, then talk to her, I guess?" she says uncertainly. "It depends on what we find. If it can help us, then we won't need to do anything."

"There's that Josie optimism," Lizzie says, her voice teasing but relieved. "But what would it even mean if we could prove that it was hers? That she was a part of the coven and somehow miraculously survived whatever the hell happened to the rest of them? How would she even have survived?"

"We're here, aren't we?" Josie points out. "Magic always has a loophole."

Lizzie rolls her eyes. "You're starting to sound like Emma. Maybe we do come from the same bloodline. But — dad told us that the coven saved our lives before they went extinct and that they managed to put a delay on the curse. We wouldn't be here otherwise."

"Yes, and we already know that someone else survived," Josie says, moving along to the next row of desks. "The prison world proves that, or else we wouldn't be looking for a connection. So, someone else found a way to save themselves."

"It just doesn't — okay, what are you doing? Can you please turn around and stop touching those?"

Josie sighs and turns to face her. "I'm trying to see if I can siphon anything. I'll be able to feel it if there's another cloaking spell but to do that I have to touch it."

"I am aware of how our powers work," Lizzie says, trying to snap but just missing the mark. She waves a hand at her with another roll of her eyes. "Continue. And as I was saying, it's just really confusing."

"Yeah, I know. Which is why we're looking for answers that'll make it less confusing."

"Well, unless the missing link we're looking for between Emma and the coven is a bunch of confiscated objects that look like they've been bewitched by a person with the magic capability of a two-year-old, I don't think there's anything here."

"We've only been here five minutes," Josie argues as she runs her palm across another desk. No spark or tingle, or that familiar pull of magic, begging to be siphoned out and into her veins. Just hard, rough wood. 

Lizzie leans against Emma's desk, staring down at it. Her eyebrows draw together and Josie watches her in confusion, her head tilting as she moves down to the next desk.

"Maybe we're searching the wrong office," Lizzie says. "Both the ascendant and the Grimoire were cloaked in dad's office. Clearly, anything that could lead back to the Gemini's isn't going to be lying around in here."

"Lizzie, we already went over dad's office," Josie reminds her, just as she had done for her, shaking her head. "There's nothing else cloaked there."

Lizzie sighs and drops into the chair behind her. "Then we have nothing. Square one, just like you said."

She pulls open the drawer in front of her, taking out a piece of paper and a keychain in the shape of an owl. She turns the paper over, barely glancing at its slightly ripped edges. Lizzie makes a face at it as Josie stops searching for spells to undo and makes her way back down the room.

"Even if we can't find anything in here, we still have the Grimoire," Josie reminds her. 

She takes the keychain and paper from her hands, reaching over the desk to slip them back in the drawer before pushing it closed. Lizzie shoots her a halfhearted glare.

"Emma's only one possibility," she adds. "We'll find something else if it's not her. We're not gonna give up that easily, okay?"

"You really took the whole positivity thing seriously, didn't you?" Lizzie asks, feigning disappointment. 

Josie just smiles and nods. Lizzie sighs again, exaggerating it a little, but Josie doesn't miss the happy relief that flickers in her eyes. She pushes herself out of the chair and onto her feet, waving a hand lazily around them with a begrudging look that's at least three-quarters an act. The other quarter, Josie's sure is very real. 

"Alright, let's keep searching for possible connections to a homicidal coven of crazies. Hey, maybe we should ask MG for help. He'd get a real thrill out of being a real-life detective."

"When we get to the point where we have nothing else to go on and are desperate enough to go spilling our dangerous family secrets," Josie says, and Lizzie's already huffing, though she knows that she's even more against telling anyone than Josie is, "then sure. We'll bring MG in to help. Until then, help me check the floorboards."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER 3!!! I really hope you guys are enjoying this so far, and please tell me if you are! Your comments have been making my day and I always smile when I read them! There is a lot more drama and tension coming up, so I hope that you all stick around to see it. Thank you so much for reading!! ❤


	4. There are no storms in Nebraska

By the time that they land in New Orleans, the sun has started to rise in the distance in soft shades of pink and orange, soaking the darkness up. Caroline watches it for the last hour of the flight. She always does when they're up in the clouds, remembering how she always wanted the window seat, no matter who she was with.

It's also the only way to distract herself once she's run out of things to talk to Bonnie about. She's already exhausted all of her options, from the call with Alaric to Malivore and all of the creatures showing up in Mystic Falls, and her theories on the witch in New Orleans. She recalls hearing about a few. From Klaus. Somewhere else, too, she's sure but he was always the one that would tell her about things like that.

At some point, though, Bonnie gets a message using the plane's signal, and Caroline knows her attention has been divided. A part of her wants to be annoyed, but all she can do is smile, spotting the gleam of happiness in her eyes. After that, she just turns to the window and watches the sun slowly creep up on the horizon, blinking away any tiredness that's been stuck with her for the past week. At this point, it's more like years.

Then the plane lands and they get off with their luggage in tow. It's not a lot considering they rarely stay in one town or city or even state for more than two days, a week at most if things get complicated.

"Okay, so, did this mysterious witch contact of yours happen to give you a location to meet them at?" Caroline asks once they're walking down the streets of New Orleans, having gotten a cab to Louis Armstrong Park, the first place Caroline could think of on the spot. "An address, maybe?"

"Uh, yeah," Bonnie tilts her head, a wary look on her face as she glances at her, "a cemetery, actually."

Caroline just stares at her for a moment, then she closes her eyes, sighing.

"Of course the witch we know nothing about wants to meet us at a cemetery." She throws a hand out at her side. "Where else would it be? The last one was a freaking abandoned warehouse! Is it really too much to ask for them to want to meet up in a cafe for once? A nice restaurant, a diner — hell, I'd take a coffee shop."

"They know you're a vampire," Bonnie explains with a shrug. "They just want to be in a place where they have a better chance of defending themself if things go wrong. And I hear that Lafayette Cemetery is that place for witches in New Orleans."

"Yeah, it is," Caroline agrees with another sigh. "I get why, but if they can't actually help and try and pull some witchy trick on us, that safe space isn't gonna be so safe anymore."

"You're starting to sound like Damon," Bonnie says with a teasing smile. 

Caroline rolls her eyes, feigning insult at the comparison. It probably would have been real sixteen years ago, but lately, it doesn't feel as bad to be compared to Damon in some sense. She's clearly losing her mind from all of the stress.

"Well, even he's right on occasion," she says, then quickly turns to Bonnie, pointing a finger at her. "Don't you dare tell him I said that."

"Oh, don't worry," Bonnie places a hand on top of hers, gently lowering it back down as they continue walking, "I won't. I think we can both agree that his ego's already big enough as it is these days. Enzo doesn't exactly help with that."

Caroline throws her a glance from the corner of her eye. They round a corner, Bonnie checking one of the street signs to ensure they're going the right way. She tries to pick her words out carefully.

"Speaking of Enzo," she starts, as nonchalant as possible, "how's he been doing lately? You know, what with the whole resurrection by a super shady, super old witch who disappeared the second she somehow magically brought him back to life? It's been a while since I've seen him."

"If you're asking me, for the millionth time, if he's showing signs of losing his mind, murderous tendencies, or starting to die again like every other person who's ever been resurrected has..." She turns her head to look at her. "No. He seems...okay."

"Just okay?" Caroline presses before she can stop herself. 

Bonnie shoots her a look that she's all too familiar with and presses her lips together. It's been eleven years and she's well aware that if there were going to be any side-effects to the resurrection, they would have happened long ago.

But she's only been in a room with Enzo twice in those eleven years. Once at a Christmas that she managed to make it to and she forced him to come along to, and again sometime last year when she went over to Bonnie's house and he was there. For all she knows, he could be a completely different person and Bonnie's simply hiding it so that she doesn't have to lose him again. She knows her better than that, though.

"I'm sorry, I just worry about you guys," Caroline says honestly. "Ric searched for months for a way to bring Jo back and only found the Phoenix stone. Without the other side...I just don't know how it was even possible. I still don't even understand how it worked for Tyler or who decided they wanted to bring him back."

"You even have to ask?" Bonnie says.

Caroline shakes her head, because deep down, though they've never talked about, she knows who it was. Matt was a broken mess after Tyler died, and after the whole thing with his mom and Vicki coming back. She can't blame him for going to a shady witch who's skilled in resurrection. She just wonders why it never worked with Vicki. Or for Stefan.

"Look, I don't know how it worked," Bonnie continues, "but honestly? I don't care either. I thought I was never going to see him again after we stopped Mystic Falls from being destroyed by hellfire. I've had eleven more years with him because of that woman, and I'm hoping I'll get a lot more."

"Yeah, and then he's going to continue living once you're gone," Caroline says without thinking, a sharp edge to her voice. She regrets the words as soon as they're out of her mouth and shakes her head, stopping in her tracks to look at her. "I'm sorry, I didn't—"

Bonnie brushes it off with a small smile. "It's fine. I know what you meant."

Caroline hesitates, guilt twisting around in her chest, but she lets it drop. She looks away as they continue down the street. A tug in the back of her mind has her glancing at her from the corner of her eyes. Bonnie doesn't even seem remotely fazed by the comment. She isn't pressing her lips together, there's no subtle twitch in her mouth. There's no resignation or even a trace of anger that might have once followed a thoughtless comment like that.

"Where's this cemetery again?" Bonnie asks without looking up from her phone, her eyes narrowing at it.

Caroline snaps herself back, pushing it down. She blinks, processing the question as she tries to think.

"I think it's about an hour from here?" she says uncertainly. "I never exactly had much reason to visit it, but..."

She falters, in words and in her steps, her breath sticking in her throat sharply before she can say it. Bonnie looks up at her, her eyebrows furrowing. Then she seems to realize why and that sympathetic look is back.

Glancing at her, Caroline quickly clears her throat. "But Klaus told me about it when I was here," she finishes, forcing the words out. "It's where the witches hold the most power. Or did. I'm not exactly up to date on the New Orleans covens and their magic."

His name feels strange coming out of her mouth, sounds odd to her own ears. It always used to, but back then, it felt more like a dark secret, as if she always had to whisper it in case someone overheard or he did a Voldemort and appeared out of thin air. Now, it leaves a hollow, sort of emptiness in her chest. 

"You never talk about him that much," Bonnie says, approaching the subject with all the caution of talking to a wounded person. "It's been three years since...I know you cared about him, Care."

Caroline inhales deeply, hoping the cold burn of the air will soothe the ache in her heart. It doesn't.

"I did," she agrees, looking at her. She raises a shoulder in a shrug. "And now he's gone. I am...dealing with it. Just...being here, you know? It's weird. But this is for Lizzie and Josie, so let's find this witch and ask them very nicely to help us break this stupid curse."

Bonnie still seems concerned, but that's nothing new when it comes to her. She always takes it upon herself to care for them and notice when something is even slightly awry. But she doesn't press, and her mouth twitches up as they continue walking.

"By ask very nicely, do you really mean you're going to be sweet Caroline for the first five minutes and then start interrogating them for answers?" Bonnie asks, raising her eyebrows. "Because I would like to remind you, Lafayette Cemetery used to be hallowed ground for witches. You'll probably end up with a melted daylight ring."

Caroline rolls her eyes. "No, I mean we're going to talk to them very nicely, and politely, and in a completely cool and calm manner. Have I been anything but nice to any other lead we've followed?"

Bonnie's eyebrows lift a little further. "You _did_ threaten to rip that one guy's arms off because he said he knew something about a coven but wanted some sort of payment for information. And with that werewolf back in Atlanta; I'm pretty sure you told her you were going find a way to make sure the moon is always out for the rest of eternity because she tried to refuse to tell us anything despite lying about knowing something. And—"

"Alright, I get it," Caroline snaps. She huffs as Bonnie just smiles. "Though, in all fairness, that werewolf was a real bitch. And she wasn't even talking about the Gemini Coven, she was just pretending that she knew a witch who could help us so that she could get closer to a Bennett witch. If anything, I should have at least broken her arm."

"Did you flip your switch when I wasn't looking?" Bonnie asks, obviously joking as she narrows her eyes at her in mock suspicion. "That was a very Caroline-without-humanity thing to say. Should I be worried?"

Caroline breathes out a light laugh, shaking her head. She smiles back at Bonnie.

"I suppose some of my interrogation skills could use some work. But at least I never actually followed through on my threats to force them to talk like certain other torture-happy vampires back home."

"Real subtle," Bonnie says, rolling her eyes.

"You know I'm kidding," Caroline says, then pauses as Bonnie raises an eyebrow at her. "Alright, so I wasn't. But you know that I love Enzo and Damon. And I greatly appreciate their ability to torture information out of people, even if they no longer do that. I hope. You've checked in with them, right?"

Bonnie breathes out a half-laugh. "Yes, I have. And they're fine. Elena's usually there anyway, so the chances of either of them actually doing anything doing bad are unlikely. They both listen to her, strangely."

"Oh, thank god," Caroline says, exaggerating her relief if only to make Bonnie's smile widen. "I'm glad Elena's there. Who knows what those two would get up to otherwise?"

"Although, I think she might actually be out of town on a work thing right now," Bonnie muses, making Caroline whip back around to stare at her. "I'm sure they're fine."

"Mystic Falls is going to be a blood bath by the time that we get home," Caroline jokes. 

Bonnie nods. "Totally."

Caroline waves a hand at her. "Alright, just look up how we get to this cemetery. I'd rather not take a wrong turn and end up in the middle of the vampire-free zone of the French Quarter. I would like to be returning home with my heart still inside of my chest."

"And your head still on," Bonnie adds with a slight gesture of her phone. 

She does as Caroline asked and looks up the directions as they continue walking down the street at a slow pace. Caroline just hugs her jacket closer, her eyes focusing on the horizon. The daylight has officially crept in with its icy-looking blue, no trace of the dark sky or a star in sight. 

Lizzie and Josie will be waking up soon. Her stomach clenches and she has to resist the urge to get her phone out and text them. It'll be better to wait until after Alaric tells them she's going to be late coming home and she and Bonnie have talked to the witch. Maybe she can greet them with some good news.

It only takes Bonnie another minute or so before she's got a map pulled up on her screen, her signal having cut out halfway down the street. Caroline tells herself it was probably just a strange coincidence that every light on the road happened to flicker at the exact moment that Bonnie cursed under her breath and tried to get it to reconnect.

They start following the directions, already going the right way anyway. With each step closer to the cemetery, and subsequently, the French Quarter, Caroline isn't sure if the heavy weight on her chest is from the hope that maybe this will be the lead they needed all along, or dread that it's going to turn out to be a complete waste of time like the rest.

They're about to turn around a corner, Bonnie reading out what street they should be on once they do. Caroline doesn't get the chance to confirm for her. A hand clamps down on her arm tightly and she's being yanked to the side, darkness quickly enveloping her.

Her eyes adjust without problem but she still blinks, caught off guard as Bonnie's pulled back along with her. They're shoved into the alcove of a building. She quickly grabs the wrist of the hand holding onto her and squeezes. With one swift twist, she feels bones crunch and grind together, and the grip quickly releases with a groan. 

She pushes the person against the wall with vamp speed, a hand pressing roughly into their shoulder. The other clamps over their mouth, forcing them to be quiet to avoid drawing attention. Bonnie stands next to her, staring at them with narrowed eyes, obviously ready to mutter some spell if need be.

"Who the hell are you?" Caroline hisses, trying to get a good look at their face.

They've got a hood up, though, obscuring their face as they keep their head bent low. She does a quick sweep of them as they cradle their wrist, still hissing beneath her hand. Caroline realizes a second too late that it's not quite a noise, and is, in fact, an incantation. 

White-hot flashes of pain shoot through her head and her eyes squeeze shut. She presses her hands to her ears, her teeth clenching and suppressing the scream of agony that was about to fall from her lips, turning to a muffled groan instead. All she can see is a bright light behind her eyelids.

She stumbles back a few steps, her back hitting a wall. The pain quickly eases up. Her breath leaves her in a rush, gasping for air to soothe the burning in her lungs and head. Her temples still throb, and she hesitates for a moment, uncertain. Then she drops her hands back to her sides. 

As she pushes herself back against the wall, trying to straighten up, she notices that Bonnie now has her hand curled around one of the mystery person's wrists with a glare being directed at them. She's guessing she has her to thank for the sudden relief.

The person pulls their arm back, forcing her to release her grip. They reach up and pulls their hood back roughly. Caroline looks up at their face, her eyes narrowing as she manages to make out long, bouncing curls so dark that they blend into the shadows swallowing them. 

"Are you insane?" they hiss at her. "I'm the person who just saved you from walking right into the middle of what would have been your own death. New Orleans has a strict no-vampires-allowed policy."

"Yeah, I know," Caroline breathes out, her voice still strained, but her chest loosens a little as her eyes drop to the ground.

"Why did you stop us then?" Bonnie asks, shaking her head. Her eyes flick over the person as they turn slightly towards her. "You're clearly a witch. The no-vampires policy was created by witches. Why help?"

"Because it would be pretty stupid of me to let you get killed when I'm the reason you're here," she answers with a tone that's telling Caroline she's already regretting that. 

Caroline's eyes snap back up to her.

"Wait," she pushes herself up against the wall completely, her eyes widening, "you're the witch? The one who knows about the Gemini Coven and — and the merge? You know how to break the curse?"

"I am," she says, noticeably leaving the rest of her question unanswered. "But I won't tell you anything. Not here."

Caroline's eyes narrow. She glances at Bonnie, met with equal scepticism and suspicion. This is far from their first time doing this and they both know how this goes. It usually doesn't end well for them, and nine times out of ten, they need to snap someone's neck or knock them out in a more human way.

"That's why we agreed to meet you at the cemetery," Bonnie says slowly. She glances around, her lips parting, and she turns back to the witch. "Why exactly did you ambush us here? You were the one who said you got more protection from the cemetery."

"That was before I realized I was basically asking your vampire friend here to kill me." She shakes her head, eyeing Caroline with a level of suspicion and disdain that she's really thinking isn't fair considering who just attacked whom. "I'll be far more protected in the Quarter."

Caroline looks up at her in disbelief while Bonnie scoffs. She waves a hand at Caroline.

"You just said that the whole of New Orleans is vampire-free," Bonnie reminds her with emphasis. "Asking her to walk into the French Quarter is like asking her to sign her own death sentence."

"You'll both be safe as long as you're with me," the witch argues. "No one will dare harm you. The other witches trust me, and most of the packs around here are my friends."

"Yeah, no offence, but I don't exactly trust the word of a stranger who just grabbed us off the street and tried to melt my brain," Caroline says hotly.

"Do you want my help or not?" she snaps, glaring at her. 

Caroline falters. She closes her mouth, pressing her lips together. She glances at Bonnie, their eyes meeting. Her hesitation and the obvious uncertainty written all over her face doesn't do much to ease Caroline's doubts. Still, at Bonnie's prompting look, Caroline can only give a slight shake of her head.

Bonnie turns on the witch, crossing her arms.

"Can you swear that she won't be hurt?" she asks, raising an eyebrow at her.

She rolls her eyes and makes a display of her exasperation, but she nods all the same.

"Yes, I swear," she says, glancing between them. "My protection is worth a lot, and I don't go back on my word. So, do you want my help, or should I leave you to deal with whatever mess you've gotten into that involves the Gemini Coven?"

Caroline inhales deeply, staring blankly at the wall opposite her. An image of Lizzie and Josie flashes to the front of her mind. Their smiles, bright enough to light up their faces, and their excitement as they went around Paris just a few weeks ago. How much Lizzie talked about Josie when she stayed with her for the summer break, and how she would always get so excited about her postcards.

How tightly they hug her each time she comes back and their shining, teary eyes every time she has to leave. She's nodding before she can even register the movement. Blinking away the image, she lifts her eyes to the witch.

"Please," she says. "If you know something, anything..."

The witch nods. "Okay. Come on then."

She then slips past the two of them and back out onto the street. Caroline pushes herself away from the wall completely and wobbles slightly, her vision blurring for a second. Bonnie's quick to move to her side, hands reaching out gingerly and resting lightly on her sides.

The pulsing in her head stops at last and she manages to steady herself with a little of Bonnie's help. She reminds herself to feed later.

"Are you sure about this?" Bonnie asks quietly, looking up at her with worry. It's clear, though, that she already knows what the answer is going to be. The only answer there can be.

Caroline nods, looking at her, determination mingling with hope. 

"She might be able to save Lizzie and Josie," she says. "I'm sure."

Bonnie's look is one of understanding and she lowers her hands back to her sides. Wordlessly, they leave the little alcove. The witch is waiting for them, and they follow her as they start back down the street. Caroline's head is buzzing and her stomach's tying itself together, but she knows it's not from an incantation.

* * *

There's a quiet creak from outside, quickly followed by the sound of the door handle being turned. Josie looks up from her position in the back of the classroom, her heart jumping. She's crouched down with a hand hovering next to the skirting board. 

The door swings open and Josie's stomach drops. Her eyes dart to Lizzie, a panicked look passing between them in the brief moment that they have before they're fully caught.

"Now, I'm curious," her dad starts as he crosses his arms over his chest and glances between them, "what are you two doing in here after class when you should be getting ready for practice?"

"We..." Josie falters, a second long enough for Lizzie to shoot her an urgent glare, "...were doing our homework?"

He looks over at her, his eyebrows lifting. "Nice try. Have another shot."

"We miss Emma?" Lizzie says uncertainly, tilting her head as if making herself look almost unrecognizable from a sad puppy will sway him into believing her. 

Josie closes her eyes. Her dad gives a huff of a humourless laugh. 

"Okay, chances up. What are you really doing in here, and—" he looks back over at Josie, his eyebrows furrowing, "—why are you on the floor?"

Josie quickly drops her hand back to her side, eyes wide. "Nothing."

He stares at her, shaking his head slowly. Lizzie rolls her eyes out of his sight, tipping her head back in exasperation. His expression softens and he sighs, looking away.

"Look, I know that things have been hard lately," he starts, and a pang of guilt hits Josie square in the chest at the twinge of it she catches in his voice, "with this whole Malivore thing, and Triad, and...the merge. I can't imagine how you girls must be feeling right now. But your mom and I—"

"Speaking of mom," Lizzie cuts in, obviously spotting the opportunity to drive the subject directly away from their suspicious activities. "She said she'd be home today. Have you heard from her? She wasn't exactly specific with the details."

Her dad visibly hesitates. Josie's heart is already dropping into her stomach as he avoids their eyes.

"It turns out..." He pauses, lips still parted, trying to fish for the right words. He looks between them, takes another second, and then, with a quiet sigh, says, "her flight's been cancelled. There's a bad storm in Portland, and there probably won't be another one for a day or two. She's trying to drive out of town to get to another airport, but she might not be able to with the weather."

Josie's shoulders slump. The disappointment settles into her chest, crawling back into the nest it's built for itself over the years. She glances at Lizzie, watching her face drop and press her lips together tightly.

"Let me get this straight," Lizzie says slowly. "Mom can't come home because of the weather. You know, it's funny but that almost sounds really familiar. I wonder why that is. Do you know, Jo?"

She looks over at her, and Josie knows where she's going with this. They both turn their eyes on their dad. 

"Dad, you can tell us if something has come up," Josie says, shaking her head. "We know what mom's doing now, you don't have to keep it from us."

She isn't sure if she imagines the touch of hope that slips through into her ow voice. If her mom isn't able to make it back when she said like all the other times, then maybe she's got a new lead. 

He looks at her for a second, then at Lizzie. Something flickers across his face, but it's brief, gone faster than it came. 

"I'm sorry, girls," he says, and shakes his head, "but her flight's been cancelled, there's nothing she can do about it. The storm should clear up soon, though. It'll only be a few extra days, I'm sure."

Josie's stomach sinks again. The look that Lizzie throws her when he turns away from them mirrors her exact thoughts.

"Come on," he says, turning back to them in the doorway. He raises at his eyebrows at them and makes a gesture with his head for them to follow. "Practice is about to start and the team needs two of its star players."

"I'm not sure a team that loses every single game can have star players," Josie says, but pushes herself to her feet all the same. 

He just smiles and waits for them both to walk out of the room, slipping past him. Lizzie does so rather reluctantly, her arms crossed and scowling. It's obvious she had been hoping they could divert the conversation and he would leave them to finish looking. Unfortunately, Josie's pretty sure he figured that out, even if he has no idea what exactly it is they were doing.

They walk down the hall as their dad closes the door to the classroom. Josie's pretty sure she hears something click. She can't help but think that he must know it's pointless to lock the door when they could easily siphon some magic and unlock it in a second if they really wanted to. 

They head for the stairs, moving down the hallway wordlessly as he keeps a few paces behind them. It's only once they actually take the stairs and he continues down the hall to go back out into the garden that she breathes out.

"We're totally not buying that, right?" she asks, turning to look at Lizzie. 

"Of course not," Lizzie scoffs. "Mom isn't even in Portland, she's in Nebraska."

Josie's eyebrows furrow and Lizzie waves a hand vaguely from under her arms, keeping them crossed.

"I did a sort of locator spell on her last night after she called and you ditched me for MG," she explains. "Thanks for that, by the way, first day back and I'm already being abandoned. But I did it so that I could check when the next flight from there would be getting in so that we would know when she should be here."

"Well, maybe dad got the state mixed up," Josie suggests, but even she knows it's a hopeful but pointless attempt at an excuse.

"There are no storms in Nebraska. I checked the weather this morning as well to make sure there would be no complications. None of the flights were cancelled." Lizzie looks at her, shaking her head slowly. "It took off, Josie. Mom just wasn't on it."

Josie exhales, looking down at the floor. She can't exactly act surprised. Their dad's lie wasn't his best, that's for sure. Even if it had been at least a tiny bit more believable, it wouldn't have made a difference. The second that he told them their mom was going to be delayed, an uneasy pit opened up in her stomach. 

"Why are they still lying to us?" she asks, the question more to herself than to Lizzie.

"Probably because they're still hiding an ascendant, a Grimoire, and an entire prison world which was created by a member of the Gemini Coven who, according to them, shouldn't even exist." Lizzie sighs. "I'm actually starting to envy humans. I think I'd even rather be a vampire right now."

"You would still be related to a weird coven," Josie points out.

Lizzie groans. "Fine, then I wish we didn't come from a line of crazy witches who like to force their children to merge."

"It's a curse, Lizzie," Josie sighs now. "They had no choice or the entire coven would die."

"Well, you'd think a coven would be able to find a way to break a curse."

"Yeah, you'd think."

The words hang between them as they continue walking down the hall, towards their bedroom. That's the entire problem. Why their mom's never able to be home except for three-day visits or is barely able to let them spend two weeks with her in whatever state she's taken up temporary residence. Because no one can figure out how to break one little curse.

It would make at least some sense if they had cursed themselves, she thinks. Made some sort of binding spell, linking them together willingly. Maybe that's the case and is why no one ever bothered to undo it before.

Somehow, she isn't so certain that's what happened. That's partially why she doesn't voice her theories out loud to Lizzie. She'd latch onto them, mull over them, and jump to a conclusion within the space of a minute. That, and talking about the merge makes her head spin and come too close to throwing up for her liking.

They reach their bedroom after Jed goes past them in a blur, racing down the stairs. Josie pauses in the doorway and stares after him with raised eyebrows as Lizzie walks in.

"Clearly we're not the only ones who are late to practice," Josie says. She then turns and follows Lizzie in to grab her yellow and blue jersey, the little stallion sitting proudly in the middle.

"Dad just said that so that he could make sure we left Emma's classroom," Lizzie says as she moves over to her drawers, searching carefully through the neatly folded piles. "Practice doesn't start for another ten minutes. I checked out the window and MG and Kaleb are the only two out there."

Josie's eyebrows draw together but she moves over to the window by her bed, craning her neck to look out. She manages to catch a glimpse of the field, and sure enough, MG and Kaleb are alone in the garden, throwing a ball back and forth between them. 

Her mouth curves up as it goes whizzing past Kaleb faster than MG should have been able to throw had he been human. In the blink of an eye, Kaleb's gone from where he had been standing, reappearing halfway down the garden with the ball in his hands.

She watches as they seem to start shouting at each other, but they're both grinning brightly from what she can see, and MG's laughing. The next second, before the ball's being thrown directly at him. 

She turns away and moves to the bottom of her bed, taking the clothes she left out this morning before class. Part of her can't help but question the point of practising for a practice game at all considering they still have to lose even then.

But she's not really complaining. It's fun to bewitch the ball, or watch one of the vampires run off with it with supernatural speed, or cheer on the werewolves as they jump high into the air and practically throw themselves through the hoops that they have to take down for the actual games. 

"So, now that we've ruled Emma out as a possibility—" Josie pauses and looks at Lizzie as she turns to her over her shoulder, frowning. "We have ruled her out, right? We don't still think there's something we missed in her office?"

Lizzie shakes her head in confirmation and Josie nods, her expression relaxing once more. 

"Now that we've ruled her out," she starts again, "I think we should focus on the prison world. I know that figuring out who created it is the goal, but that's why I think the prison world itself is more likely to hold more answers than the Grimoire."

"I'm not disagreeing," Lizzie says slowly, her eyebrows raising slightly. Josie can already feel a 'but' coming. "The prison world probably, possibly, might have some answers we're looking for. But we have to be careful, remember?"

"We will," Josie agrees, nodding. "Does that mean you're okay with going back?"

Lizzie falters. She passes the jersey between her hands, resulting in her holding it in the both of them as she thinks.

"Only if you are. I know that the guy with some serious anger issues and some sort of vendetta against kitchen counters freaked you out."

Josie's the one raising her eyebrows. She happens to recall Lizzie being the one who jumped and cursed and even knocked into a table, but she won't deny that it startled her. The possibility of them losing control of their magic again and messing up does have a feeling of dread crawling into her stomach. 

"Let's make it a last resort," Lizzie quickly decides. "For now, I think we should focus more on the Grimoire. Who knows when dad will realize it's gone, and it's not going to take him long to figure out it was us who took it. We need to figure out where it comes from before he notices."

Josie knew there was going to be some sort of disappointment. Still, she sighs and nods, agreeing with her. For all they know, their dad could already be putting the pieces together. Catching them snooping around Emma's office has to have sped up his suspicion.

It's only a matter of time before he's going to confront them about the Grimoire, and that means the ascendant as well. The two things that could be the key to the puzzles that they've been living in their entire lives like one big, not-so-fun game of Cluedo. 

"I seriously don't think the prison witch will be able to help us that much," Lizzie adds, but lets it drop there. "We can keep looking through the Grimoire later, when dad's not hovering over our shoulders."

Josie nods her agreement once again and Lizzie seems satisfied enough. She turns and walks out of the room, Josie promptly following, unable to not wish that maybe the prison world was their main priority. She had reservations at first, obviously, but she can't help but think there's more to it all.

* * *

The bar is just as Caroline remembers. The coloured, stain-glass windows that stare out into the middle of the French Quarter still cast strange, soft hues across the room, a few, dull lights hanging up here and there. It's still quiet.

It's unnerving now, though, somehow, the quiet chatter of the few people scattered around the room. It should be comforting. The fewer people around, the less chance there is of one of them deciding they aren't fond of a vampire waltzing into their territory.

She glances around, chewing nervously at her bottom lip. Her eyes dart from the person sitting on one of the stools, sipping away at what she's sure is bourbon and absolutely is not judging them for, to the tables around her, to the shelves upon shelves of liquor stored behind the bar. 

She pauses at the doorway leading into the back section of the bar. It should be hard to remember, she's sure, and yet it's as easy as if it were yesterday. Her own voice echoes in her head, talking to the bartender of that day, her own sigh as she curses Klaus. The one time she went in search of him, and he was nowhere to be found.

A hand touches her arm gently. She tears her gaze away, turning it on Bonnie instead. Her expression is gentle and concerned, not even bothering to try and conceal it.

Caroline manages a small smile in the hopes that it will assure her she's okay. It doesn't, but Bonnie doesn't say anything. She gives her arm a light squeeze then moves her hand to rest back on the top of the table.

"Okay, you're safe."

They both turn to look at the source of the voice. Their guiding witch — Kyana, as she introduced herself on the way over — is walking back over to them, her expression slightly more annoyed than it had been when they entered a few minutes ago. In the lights of the bar, her face is far more visible, her features easier to discern. She almost looks kind with the slight upturn of her nose and her wide, brown eyes. 

Caroline can't help but be more focused on the way the air thickens when she approaches, as if encased in some sort of magical bubble. She wouldn't be surprised considering how willing she was to meet with a vampire she had never met before. Bonnie's presence is probably the only thing keeping her civil. Although considering their first encounter, she's not so sure that's the word she'd use. 

"The wolves aren't going to bother either of you," she says, rubbing her hands together as she moves around the table and takes a seat across from them. "Same goes for the rest of the witches. Though, Clara did tell me to warn you that if they see even a glimpse of veins under your eyes, they won't hesitate to give you those 'witchy migraines' that you're not so fond of."

"Oh, well, your friend sounds lovely," Caroline says dryly, and risk a glance behind her to try and pick out which one is sending her the harshest death glare.

She locks eyes with the person in the far corner at the window, in between two others. They tilt their head and smile sweetly at her. Raising their hand, they wave the tips of their fingers slowly at her. It definitely feels like a threat. She presses her lips together and turns back to face Kyana. 

"Okay, we're here," Bonnie says, crossing her arms on the table. She leans forward on them, holding Kyana's stare. "You're protected. So, can you talk now?"

"Look, no one talks about the Gemini Coven," Kyana says, shaking her head, her eyes shifting between the two of them. "They were powerful, but with that sort of power came fear. It doesn't help that they were so closed-off and small, either. Hardly any of us knew anything about them, and when witches close themselves off from other witches...it was better to ignore their existence entirely."

"We're well aware of how small and crazy they were," Caroline says, the words snappish. "What we need to know is how to break the curse they put on themselves. That fun little one where they force their twins to merge on their twenty-second birthday or else the entire coven dies?"

Kyana looks down at the table, pressing her lips together, a dark cloud passing over her face. "No one in the community agrees with their method of choosing a leader. It was horrifying and — it went against a lot of things that we stand for. Forcing your kids into something like that..."

"You said you know something that'll help us stop it," Bonnie says, her voice quiet but pressing, pushing for more as she looks across at Kyana. "That's why we're here. You're the only one who might be able to give us what we're looking for."

Kyana lifts her eyes to meet Bonnie's. There's a pause. The anticipation catches inside of Caroline, twisting and pulling, hoping beyond hope that this isn't about to end the exact same way as all the other times have. 

Something softens in Kyana's expression. She flicks her eyes to Caroline, and she's sure an understanding passes between them. The details don't need to be voiced, the implication is enough. Inhaling deeply, Kyana leans forward on the table, her eyes wider, her voice hushed but pulling their attention in.

"I don't know exactly what the curse is or how to break it," she starts, and Caroline's heart stops for a brief moment. "But I do know someone who will be able to help you. There have been rumours in the community for centuries, but no one's ever wanted to risk repeating them or trying to check if they're true. When it comes to them..."

Caroline's eyes widen as she glances at Bonnie, exchanging a hopeful look.

"I can give you their address," Kyana finishes. "That's all I can do, though. They're practically in hiding. They're trying to keep themselves off the radar."

"Why are they in hiding?" Bonnie asks, her eyebrows furrowing.

Kyana shakes her head. "I can't tell you. Once you get there, you'll understand, but I can't afford to say too much. I'd like to wake up tomorrow alive, and I definitely won't if I tell you anything else."

"An address is more than enough," Caroline assures her, reaching across the table. She falters, then lets her hand rest against the table, not quite coming in contact with Kyana's wrist. It was instinctual, a need to comfort.

Kyana smiles, even if somewhat strained, then turns to her bag laying by her chair on the floor. 

"You're sure they'll be able to help?" Bonnie questions, her eyes still narrowed as they watch her dig through the bag. "A lot of people have said that in the last ten years, and not one of them has been able to."

"Trust me," Kyana says as she pulls a pen out, "they'll be able to help. Just tell them I sent you. We have history. And they're the only ones who know more about the Gemini Coven than anyone."

A bit of the tension in Bonnie's shoulders eases away, though it's replaced by something far closer to worry, Caroline notices. Every mention of the Gemini Coven has her tensing and practically biting a hole in her cheek. Not so great when they're actively seeking out someone who has information on them.

Kyana pulls one of the napkins sitting in the middle of the table towards her. She quickly scrawls something onto it, the tips of her fingers pressed into the corner. Caroline swears she mutters something.

But then she's pulling the pen away and handing the napkin over to Bonnie. It's taken with a grateful smile. Bonnie glances over it and Caroline leans towards her as she holds it out for her to read. 

Part of her can't help but question if it's a real address or one that's going to lead to another phoney, another long-shot. She forces that thought into a nice little locked box in the back of her mind. She can't think about what it will mean if it leads nowhere.

"Thank you so much," she says, looking back at Kyana. "And...I'm sorry about earlier."

Kyana simply waves it off, even if it's obvious a part of her wishes she had an excuse to pay her back with more than a three-second migraine. It's a natural instinct for a New Orleans witch, she's sure.

She then stands, and Caroline and Bonnie both follow her lead. They're quick to leave with the address in hand and newfound hope. They set off for the road once Bonnie checks where exactly they're going and discovers that another flight or two is going to be required. Caroline really is beginning to question why they never thought to just get a car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The drama is building!! Any thoughts so far? I would love to hear all of them! I might even be able to confirm a few things, but I would just love to hear from you guys in general! How are you all feeling so far? ❤


	5. Positivity is tiring

Loud knocking stirs Josie from the peaceful dream she had been in the middle of having. She was in Belgium. With Penelope. MG had appeared and they were joking around. A lot of it didn't make sense, and she's sure that Kaleb popped up at some point. Near the end, though, it was nice.

She was just sitting with the two of them in some park, surrounded by trees. It looked an awful lot like Paris. Penelope was spelling the flowers to grow taller, turning them all into various different shades of every colour imaginable. It was beautiful, and Josie was happy. There was nothing to worry about.

Then MG was calling for her, but he wasn't in the dream. It broke through the spell and her few moments of what a normal witch's life is probably like. Maybe she should ask her aunt Bonnie what it's like. She's always travelling, after all.

When she finally opens the door and walks out of the room, she's met with MG, waiting for her like he usually does. He grins and does a quick glance over her. She's still half-asleep and just used a quick spell to throw her hair up into her favoured space buns with two blue ribbons tied around them.

And, of course, her yellow jersey, the exact same as the one he's wearing. They were suggested and adjusted by Lizzie. Josie can still recall her and Penelope arguing over it while her mom just stared between them like she was slowly losing her mind. 

"Hey, I thought I'd wait for you," he tells her, apparently failing to notice her narrowed eyes, still slightly unfocused. He points a thumb over his shoulder. "Lizzie's already down on the field helping get everything ready for Mystic Fall's arrival."

"I can't believe we're even having a practice game during summer," Josie says, closing the door behind her. "You'd think that our school being taken over by a group of supernatural-hating hunters who were going to kill us would be enough to deem it unsafe for even this."

"Yeah, I sort of thought the whole Malivore thing and the bunch of terrifying_ monsters_ that showed up would mean we'd cancel the game," MG agrees as they start walking down the hall. "Not that I'm not glad we're still playing. It'll be good for when the semester starts. Even if we have to lose. Again."

"I can't say I'm looking forward to that. Everyone from that school already thinks we're losers, and the last real game against them pretty much only made it worse. We're basically their only form of amusement and ridicule at this point."

MG blinks in surprise. "I was expecting something a little more upbeat and positive from the person who's been convincing me for the last year that losing these games is a good thing, but..." He gives a dry chuckle. "I'm not gonna disagree."

"Positivity is tiring," she says simply, because it's the truth.

With MG, it's easy like that. It was with Penelope, too. With Lizzie, it requires a long-winded explanation and a lecture on why she has to be the positive one because that's just how it's always been. Even that is exhausting, and right now, she just needs to be allowed to be tired. 

Concern flickers across MG's face, but a smile settles on his lips. His eyes have a gleam to them, one that she's gotten familiar with; it's made an appearance every time she complains about something or tells him that she's hiding out from everyone else.

She's had a sneaking suspicion for the last two years or so that he enjoys knowing he's the only one she can completely let her guard down with and not worry about it resulting in arguments.

A little voice that sounds an awful lot like Lizzie teases her in the back of her mind, replaying a snippet of their conversation from two days ago. Her cheeks heat up a little but she brushes it off with ease as ridiculous and he doesn't seem to notice any change.

"Okay," he says, shrugging, his head bobbing up and down slowly. "In that case, how do you feel about complaining with me about Jed showing the both of us up during practice yesterday? That stunt he pulled? He totally cheated."

"Oh my god, I thought I was the only one who noticed!" Josie says, her eyes growing and any unwelcome thoughts pushed away. "I knew there was no way he could have made that shot."

"Yeah, and he won't even get benched from the game for it," MG adds as they reach the stairs and start down them, "because the full moon is close. Which means—"

"He can say he's not in control of his powers," Josie finishes for him, shaking her head. "God, I just wish we could get back at him somehow. He ruined my shot and knocked you over."

"And he pushed Landon into you!"

Josie's head tilts. "Actually, I think that may just have been Landon's lack of coordination."

"Oh," MG says, dropping the hand he brought up to point at her back down. His face is lighting back up in a second, though, grinning at her. "We can still get back at him. Now that Penelope isn't here to protect her precious cousin, no one could stop us. Especially if he tries to pull something else during the game..."

Josie catches on, her mouth curving as they reach the bottom of the stairs.

"I like your thinking," she says.

MG's grin widens, pleased, and Josie can't help but return it. They continue down the hall, in no rush to join the rest of the team outside. Pre-game Lizzie isn't any more fun than Lizzie on a normal day, though the optimistic part of Josie that remains is hoping that she might be somewhat calmer now. At least she won't be worrying about going up against Dana, as insensitive as it feels to even think.

Kaleb and Jed on the other hand. They like the thought of losing another game — even just a practice one — on purpose as much as the rest of them. Fights are bound to break out at some point. Taking their time is something that Josie and MG have both learned is a wise choice.

"Putting aside our scheme for vengeance—" MG knocks her shoulder lightly, that flicker of concern back, clear as day, "—how are you? I haven't seen much of you in the last few weeks. And Lizzie's barely shown up once in the two days that she's been back."

"Oh, and here I thought you two were getting closer," Josie jokes, half-teasing him.

He rolls his eyes. "Will you stop already? I'm over it, remember? No more crushing on girls who clearly don't have any interest in me. We're friends now, I think, but that's it."

Josie bites the inside of her cheek, trying to push back the small smile that brings to her lips. 

He looks back at her, his fond amusement losing its humour. "Seriously. Is everything alright with the two of you? We haven't really had a good chance to talk about anything that happened before the break. With Triad..."

He trails off, his eyes shifting down. She follows his worried gaze to a spot on her chest, right above her heart. The pieces quickly slide into place and she remembers the cold, sucking feeling that the Malivore bullet had caused. 

"I'm okay, MG," she says softly, reaching out a hand to his arm. "But are you? You practically lead that entire _rebellion_."

MG chuckles at that, ducking his head. It warms a piece inside, surrounding her heart like an extra layer. 

"It was pretty cool," he says with a half-shrug. "But, uh...yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. I guess. I mean, my mom...it's just a lot."

Josie nods, her head dipping to the side. She doesn't take her hand from his arm, but instead slips it down to catch his hand. He glances down at it and she squeezes lightly, hoping it'll act as some sort of small comfort like it has in the past.

It must do the trick because he looks back up at her with a soft smile and a look of gratitude. 

"Come on," she says, copying his action and bumping into his shoulder while keeping a hold of his hand, "I have a few ideas of how we can get back at Jed. It's gonna involve magic and some vampire perks."

MG beams at her now and she knows he's all in. Admittedly, it's a nice distraction. It gives her just a few moments without thoughts of grimoires and prison worlds and supposedly dead relatives clouding her mind. It's important, she knows, but it's a lot to process at once. The practice game not getting cancelled is actually sort of a relief. 

Which she reminds herself once she and MG are forced to go out and join the rest of the team. It turns out, there's only so slowly they can walk before they end up outside and are spotted by Lizzie.

Thankfully, there's not much left to do. They get a free pass and end up practising instead, preparing for the game that starts in just under half an hour. It's some strange tradition that her dad has had going on with Mystic Falls High for years. They have summer practice games for anyone who stayed at the school over the break and any of the kids from Mystic Falls High who are either being forced to come along for some reason or simply have nothing better to do. 

Josie touches MG's hand on her way past him and he grins, feeling her siphon a small amount of magic from him. Then she catches the ball and throws it toward Jed. Not even his werewolf speed can grab it when it flies up into the air, throwing itself for a loop and knocking into his back. 

She catches Lizzie shooting her a glare every now and then, after MG cheers for her or vice versa, or when she helps Kaleb make a shot with their combined powers. It's not hard for her to guess what the source of her annoyance is.

The bus for Mystic Falls High arrives not long in, and their dad goes to greet the coach. Josie's quick to uncharm the ball mid-air. It drops to the ground, caught swiftly by Kaleb, the faint green glow fading the second it's in his hands.

Josie moves from the field and stands by the benches instead. She glances behind her, her eyes scanning across the empty space amongst the ones taken by their classmates and friends. Something sinks inside of her. 

"Fun's over, I guess," MG says quietly, appearing at her side. 

She tears her eyes away from the benches and follows MG's disappointed stare to a cluster of maroon jerseys. The Mystic Falls Timberwolves are already out of the bus and on the field, walking over in their direction, knowing the drill by now. 

Their coach and her dad are close behind, some parents filing in now as well. Some come along to supervise, knowing how out-of-hands things can get, and others there because they probably have nothing else to do with the summer break coming to an end and they wanted a day out. There's only a handful for their school, if that. It is only a practice game, after all.

"I'm just hoping this doesn't go like the last one," she says, folding her arms over her chest. "After everything that's happened, I'm not sure how willing some of us are to keep our powers in check."

"Well, we're about to find out."

Josie's eyes land on exactly what MG's talking about a second after the words are out of his mouth. She curses in her head. Of course Lizzie's glaring at Stefanie Salvatore before the game has even started. The group of their opposition stops by the end of the benches, just as instructed. Stefanie's in her usual little group of friends, but she's not participating in the excited laughter they're sharing.

"Oh no," Josie sighs, her shoulders dropping.

Lizzie's already walking up to Stefanie, clipboard held tightly in her hands. She smiles politely at her, but Josie can tell even from a distance that it's the thin, forced one reserved especially for Stefanie and anyone from Mystic Falls High. 

"What are they saying?" Josie whispers, nudging MG as she watches Lizzie's mouth move but can't hear anything over the sound of their own classmates mixed with the chatter of the parents and the Timberwolves' loud conversation. Mostly complaining about the heat. 

MG focuses his hearing. His head tilts, his eyes narrowing.

"She's...telling her to have a good game?" he says uncertainly, then his face falls. "Oh, no, she just implied that she can hex her. That's definitely not good."

Josie shakes her head to herself, resisting the urge to groan. "Of course."

They both watch Stefanie step closer to her, tilting her own head up. Josie has to give her credit for not backing down under Lizzie's glare or thinly veiled threats. If anything, she just seems amused; she practically smirks at Lizzie as she says something to her.

MG doesn't get the chance to relay it back to her or hear it at all. A man cuts Stefanie off, resting a hand on her shoulder. The second he does, her expression completely flips to wide-eyed innocence that clearly no one is buying. Not even him when she looks up at him and smiles brightly. 

He says something to her with a roll of his eyes and a smirk of a smile, gesturing his head behind him. She's the one rolling her eyes now, but her smile seems a little more genuine as she nods. He hands her his phone and she slips past him, back into the crowd of her own school, holding it to her ear.

"I didn't know Stefanie had an uncle," MG comments, still watching them with curious eyes.

Josie shrugs it off. "A lot of people have relatives we don't know about. Apparently some of _us_ even have ones we don't know about."

MG turns his head and looks at her, his eyebrows furrowing. She falters, and honestly, a part of her wants to tell him the truth. About the ascendant, and the Gemini Coven. 

Lizzie chooses that exact moment to spin back around, her jaw clenched and those furious flames burning in her eyes. They're not aimed at her, but when their eyes meet, Josie knows what she has to do.

She shakes her head and smiles, dismissing it. "Generally speaking. A lot of us have extended family we've probably never even met before. Especially if you stay at a private boarding school for magical beings about ninety-percent of the time."

"Ah, gotcha," MG says, his mouth curving. "Yeah, I can't say I can name more than seven of my relatives. Haven't seen a single one of them in years. Well..."

Something shifts in his expression, frowning as he goes to correct himself with everything that happened a few months ago. He doesn't seem able to bring himself to finish. Josie's heart clenches and she reaches out, touching his arm again.

He looks at her and attempts a smile, but it doesn't quite land. She rubs his arm gently and promises herself she'll talk to him about it properly later when they're not standing in the middle of a field. She should have already, during the break, but she was just so preoccupied. The thought of finding out that her mom is working for someone like Triad, a group that wants nothing more than to see people like her own son destroyed...she'll talk to him about it.

She glances back over at Lizzie. Her eyes are still trained on Stefanie like she's about to sprout devil horns and a tail and devour everyone. Josie rolls her eyes. She glances around instead for the rest of their teammates, knowing it's only seconds until the game starts.

Everyone's mostly hanging back, waiting, like she and MG are. Jed's talking away to someone in the benches, and Kaleb's in the middle of a conversation with Stefanie's supposed uncle. Josie frowns.

The whistle sounds through the field. Everyone moves, the excitement suddenly spiking. Kaleb says one last thing to the man and then runs back over to join them as the rest of them turn their attention towards both coaches.

* * *

The ball's just left Lizzie's hands. She makes sure to pass by Kaleb, the plan already agreed upon, and let her fingers graze over his arm for just two seconds long enough. As soon as her skin starts to tingle, she twists her hand, her sights set on the ball. It's about to go straight into a member of the opposing team's hands.

"_Inpulsa possessor_," she whispers under her breath, her lips barely moving. 

She flicks her fingers out. The ball lands perfectly in the guy's hands. Then it's straight back up in the sky as he yelps, his eyes wide as he throws it away from him. He stares at his hands in confusion, but it's already too late.

MG catches the ball, and with a smug grin, walks it the two steps into the goal. Their team and the last few of their classmates who came out to watch erupt in cheers. Lizzie turns to Kaleb and highfives him, both of them satisfied and overjoyed as they share in their small victory together.

"It shocked me!" the guy who fumbled it says in his defence when two of his teammates shoot him exasperated looks. "I thought it was gonna fry my hands off!"

The giddy excitement of soon-to-be-victory is short-lived. A whistle blows, piercing through the cheers. Lizzie turns to look over at her dad. He catches her eyes and gestures his head, a stony expression on his face.

The dread's already clawing at her stomach, all too familiar with the look. Even so, she rolls her eyes and begrudgingly moves across the field to where he's standing by the benches, leaving Kaleb whistling through his teeth and saying something about her being caught.

"Do you wanna explain that stunt you just pulled?" her dad asks, his voice low and just quiet enough that only vampires would be able to hear him. She knows that because she catches MG quickly turning away and Kaleb blatantly staring with a concerned look. 

Lizzie falters, slipping on the innocent act. It's worked before, she sees no reason why it shouldn't now.

"It was an accident," she tries, forcing sincerity into her words and widening her eyes. "My magic just sort of slipped out of me. Everything that's been going on has just been really stressful, and it's hard for me to control it like that. I swear, dad, it was a total accident."

Something flickers in his eyes. His expression softens just a touch, the way it always does right before he sighs and gives in, feeling too guilty to try and argue. She does feel a bit bad afterwards, usually, but it's better than getting in trouble for purposefully using magic. That was proven when she ended up covered in a milkshake and cleaning graffiti from windows courtesy of Mystic Falls' finest hooligans. 

Assured of what comes next, she just barely manages to bite back her smile of yet another victory.

"Well, I guess if your powers are really getting that hard to control then it'll be best if you sit the rest of the game out."

Lizzie freezes. "Wait, what?"

"You said that you're finding it hard to control your powers right now," her dad explains slowly, "so, you're gonna sit the rest of the game out. I don't want you losing control, especially not on the field, and not after the last game."

"No, wait — I didn't mean that it's hard for me to control," she quickly tries to correct herself, eyes wide with alarm. "I just mean that it was one slip up. I accidentally siphoned from Kaleb, but I don't have any more magic in me! I swear it won't—"

"I'm sorry, Lizzie, but I can't risk you losing control of your magic," he says firmly, shaking his head. "It could turn into something more dangerous than an electric shock, and you might hurt yourself, or Josie, or one of your other teammates. It's just one practice game."

She stares at him in disbelief. Her lips barely part to protest before she presses them together again, seeing the look in his eyes. He isn't going to give in. Not this time.

In fairness, he actually does seem apologetic about it, though she doesn't miss the glint in his eyes that tells her he can see right through her. It's unnerving. He's never caught on before that she's playing it up. Especially not when he's been drinking, which she can tell that he clearly has. 

"Are you seriously benching me?" she asks, her voice lowered. The game's been put on pause, and Stefanie's too close by for her liking.

"Yes," he says, "but at least it'll give you a chance to cool off, make sure the magic's really out of your system."

There's a finality to his tone. One that Lizzie's only heard on a handful of occasions. He doesn't even give her much chance to try and argue further; he gestures his head at the benches, even waving the clipboard he's holding, then turns away from her.

"Landon, you're in," he calls over to him, nodding for him to move when Landon's eyebrows shoot up. "Just remember what I told you at practice, alright? You're gonna do fine."

Lizzie blinks at him in surprise, her mouth falling open in a scoff. He doesn't throw her another glance, almost as if he's avoiding her eyes on purpose. She can't help but think that maybe the game isn't the only thing on his mind. 

Panic spikes inside of her. What if he noticed the ascendant and the grimoire are missing? He can't exactly just ask her outright about them, not with so many vampires nearby, and certainly not with so many non-supernatural beings around. Maybe he's already put together that she has something to do with it. It would explain his strange behaviour. 

She doesn't try and press the subject. If she does, she might make the situation so much worse, and then she and Josie will never get the answers they're looking for. 

Landon's already on the field amongst the rest of the team, his eyes wide and darting all around like a lost lamb. Kaleb rolls his own but grabs him by the shoulder and pulls him in to talk in hushed voices. When he glances over in her direction, he catches her eye and winks. 

A smirk ghosts across Lizzie's mouth, tugging at the corners. At least she knows the game's still going to be interesting. Even so, the chances of them winning have probably plummetted drastically by this point. There's not really any point in sticking around. She has far more important things to do now that she doesn't have a game to win, but a suspicious dad to keep as far away from her and Josie's plans as possible.

Her dad blows the whistle again and everyone disperses on the field. Knowing his attention is far too focused on the game and making sure that no one else tries anything, Lizzie backs away quickly but discreetly. 

Then she turns and leaves the field, walking past the benches where she's supposed to be taking up residence with the few people who have already come back from summer break and the parents from Mystic Falls. Like that's going to happen. On the way past, she accidentally locks eyes with the man that had interrupted her and Stefanie. Since she referred to him as her uncle, she's gonna take a wild guess and assume that's what he is to her. 

He merely quirks an eyebrow at her. There's an amused curiosity there that has her own eyebrows drawing together. There's something so familiar about him. It's not quite the same feeling she got back in the Prison World, but similar. She vaguely thinks she's seen him around the school every now and then, though, she can't figure out what his reason would be to be there. 

Sure that she's probably just seen him around town on her few trips to Mystic Falls, she brushes it off and hurries on her path back to the school. If their dad really is getting suspicious, they have to act fast. Since Josie's preoccupied, she might as well get a headstart for the both of them. It's the responsible twin thing to do.

She just barely manages to dodge Dorian and his inevitable confused question of why she isn't outside, quickly rounding the corner before he can even spot her. She flies up the stairs and takes quick strides down the hallway, shooting Julian a smile as he passes her on the way to her room.

He's a year below her, she thinks but isn't quite positive, only knows that he's always nice to her and smiles whenever he sees her. She's already decided he's harmless enough and that a simple smile here and there isn't a huge deal. 

As soon she's past him, though, she glances back over her shoulder. Watching him retreat down the stairs, she then speeds up until she's pushing open her door and stepping into her room. With a breath of relief, she closes the door again, half-leaning against it with her palms pressed flat to the wood. 

She pauses for a split second. A silencing spell is tempting. But unnecessary, she decides. It's just her in the room, and as long as she doesn't start talking to herself as she has a habit of doing, then she's fine. 

She moves away from the door and crosses the room over to Josie's side. Her heart jumps a beat as she crouches down in the space beside her bed and her table. There's a perfect view of the garden from the window. Pausing again, her hands hovering by the sill, she watches for a moment, her curiosity getting the better of her. 

One of their team's players have the ball, she notes. MG, she recognizes, manages to dodge a player in a maroon jersey, twirling right past them and throwing the ball right into Kaleb's hands without missing a beat.

Her eyebrows shoot up as he makes the goal with another cheer that carries all the way up to the window. She can't help but grin, joining in their celebration. Maybe they really could have won without their powers.

Her eyes go to Landon as he catches the ball on the next starting shot. He fumbles it, accidentally tossing it right at one of Mystic Falls players. She grimaces. Maybe not.

She shifts her attention to another source of movement: her dad. His head turns slightly to either side, scanning over the field. Lizzie quickly ducks down, losing sight of the garden. If he happens to glance up and notices her at the window instead of down on the field, she's going to be in even bigger trouble.

For what, she doesn't even know. It's not as if he needs her for the game, or as if it's even a real one. 

"Probably wants to make sure I don't go sneaking off to uncover more of his secrets," she mutters to herself bitterly, casting her eyes down to the sill of Josie's window. 

With that thought in mind, she acts swiftly. She jams her fingers underneath the cushioned top, pushing down. The wood gives a slight crack of protest. Rolling her eyes, she shifts her fingers over an inch to the right. When she pushes down again, they successfully slip behind one of the panels. 

Smiling in triumph, she pulls it loose, setting it beside her on the floor. It didn't take them much effort to dislodge it the first time they ever discovered it. Even with all of the repairs their parents have done, there's still the odd wobbly floorboard and loose wooden panel here and there. Add in a touch of magic and it becomes the perfect place to hide stolen magical relics.

She stretches her hand in through the gap and closes her eyes. Her fingers stretch over thin air as she feels around slowly. The tell-tale tingle flares under her skin, spreading like fire to the tips of her fingers. Cold metal brushes her palm. 

Curling her hand around it, she pulls the ascendant out, her smile growing. She quickly reaches back in for the Grimoire, carefully pulling it free of the small slot in the wood and ignoring the thick, leather-bound journal gifted to Josie courtesy of Penelope. 

Just having the Grimoire in her hands sends another spike of that magic-fuelled tingling up through her arms. It only makes her even more curious to find out where it comes from. A powerful witch, that's for sure; it's filled with at least as much magic as the school itself. More, she can tell. 

She carefully sets the ascendant aside, next to the wooden panel. Then she settles the Grimoire in her lap, turning her full attention on it, and opens it up. It's an effort to force herself not to go flicking through it as fast as she possibly can.

If she's going to find something helpful in it, it's going to be through taking in each and every word carefully. It's a good thing she enjoys reading Grimoires. They've always interested in, and she really hopes that'll come in handy.

* * *

"I can't believe we're seriously tied," MG says, shaking his head in disappointment as he and Josie make their way across the field and over to the benches with the rest of their teammates. 

Since Lizzie got benched, the game's been going for a half-hour and has finally taken another break. It's the last one before the end of the game, so Josie can't say she's disagreeing with MG. Tieing with Mystic Falls High isn't going to be much better than losing, even if it's just a practice game. At least not to them. 

They're greeted by the team's encouragement and spirit boosters, otherwise known in normal school as cheerleaders. It was Penelope who refused to be called one but still wanted to remain in the group. It's somehow hard to find it uplifting to look at the uniforms and not see her smug smirk, as infuriating as it had become during the course of their breakup. 

Alyssa hands the two of them a bottle of water each with a smile. They thank her and take a seat on the very end of the bench. 

"It could be worse," she offers, her head tilting uncertainly, and MG quirks an eyebrow at her. "We still have another half hour of the game left. We can still win."

"You are aware of our track record for winning these games, right?" MG asks. "We haven't won a single game against Mystic Falls High. Not even practice games. I mean, last month's real one came pretty close, but..."

He trails off pointedly, tilting his head exaggeratedly. A pang of guilt hits Josie in the chest and she looks away, focusing on uncapping her bottle of water. 

"That's why I'm confident that we have a chance at winning," she says firmly. "We weren't even...cheating for the most part, and yet we were still one goal away from winning. We can do it again." She looks back up at him. "And I won't intervene this time. Honestly, I want to beat them as badly as you do, just once."

MG smiles. He leans into her shoulder.

"I see the competitive streak is finally kicking in," he jokes, and goes to take a drink of his water. 

She rolls her eyes but smiles. Telling him that everything isn't a competition feels like such a long time ago now. In some ways, she can't help but feel like maybe she was wrong. Her entire life is supposed to be destined to be one big competition with Lizzie.

She's never liked competitions; the thought of winning at someone else's expense has never sat right with her. The possibilities of how this one is going to end have her stomach twisting until she's pretty sure she's no longer thirsty. 

Still, she takes a drink, forcing the water down her throat before MG can notice that she's no longer smiling. If he catches on that something isn't right, he'll stop the pretence of being casual with his asking if she's okay and instead give her that wide-eyed, worried look. She'll cave in a second, and then Lizzie will kill her. At least there would be no merge then.

As she swallows and lowers her bottle, Stefanie appears beside her on the bench, facing towards the stands. She doesn't seem to notice her at all.

"Why did you wait until now to tell me?" she asks, her voice quiet but a hiss, the anger seeping through. "Dad told me on the phone that you've both known foran_ entire_ _day_. What, you thought I'd take the news better if you waited until I was winning some stupid game?"

There's a sigh from close by. Josie tries to keep her attention anywhere but on Stefanie and her conversation, but she's sitting so close that it's hard not to hear her.

"We thought that maybe we wouldn't have to," a voice says in response to her, just as quiet, but far calmer. It doesn't take more than a second for Josie to guess it's her uncle. "It's only a slight delay, and—"

"It's always just a slight delay," Stefanie shoots back before he can finish. "You told me that five months ago, and that slight delay ended up being two months long."

"I hate it just as much as you do, but—"

"Mom promised she would be home soon. She has to come back."

The man she's talking to sighs again, but it's gentle this time. Josie glances over her shoulder as discreetly as possible. He's sitting right there on the bench behind her. Up close, she's definitely sure she's seen him around the school at least once before. 

He stops rubbing his hand over his eyes, dropping it to his lap as he looks back up at Stefanie. Josie quickly turns away from him, busying herself with taking another drink. She still catches a glimpse of the sad look on his face; it's the exact same one that her dad gets whenever he has to tell her and Lizzie that their mom isn't going to be able to make it home. 

"I know you miss her," he says quietly, and the pain in his voice makes it clear she's not the only one. "But I promise you it's only an extra day or two. She'll be home as soon as she can."

"Why won't you just tell me where she is?" Stefanie asks, shaking her head. "What's so important this time?"

A pause. Josie's heart clenches for Stefanie. She's all too familiar with the pause that comes right before the lie. 

"Nothing is more important to her than you," he says instead. "She's just...got something she has to do. Some friends need her help that she can't give them here, that's all, but — I will call her and she can explain it all to you better, how about that?"

Stefanie scoffs. It's tired and a halfhearted attempt at the gesture. 

"Okay," she simply says.

Then she turns herself around on the bench, putting an end to the discussion. Josie can't help but glance at her. She's got her head lowered, her eyes trained on the grass. Part of the red ribbon she's got tying her light curls up is hanging down by the side of her face, but she doesn't seem to be bothered by it. 

Don't say anything. She should just leave it alone, it's none of her business.

"Are you thirsty?" she asks before she can stop herself. 

Stefanie turns her head to look at her. Her eyebrows draw together in confusion, but it's momentary, her features softening the tiniest bit. They've only had a handful of conversations, but all of them have been pleasant enough that Josie almost feels like she can call them friends. 

She holds out her bottle in further explanation, offering her a smile. Stefanie eyes it for a second then accepts it tentatively.

"Isn't Legally Blonde the knock-off gonna be mad at you for sharing with me?" she asks, only half-joking as the corners of her lips twitch up. Josie almost thinks she hears a quiet chuckle from behind them. 

"Probably," Josie says. She smiles, tilting her head as if sharing a secret. "But I don't really care."

Stefanie's eyebrows raise in obvious surprise. Her smile widens, impressed. Instead of responding, she simply takes a drink from the bottle, looking away from her. She could easily leave it there; a short, polite conversation between friendly rivals. Josie's stomach swoops and she decides to just go for it. The part of her that understands the slightly unfocused glint in Stefanie's eyes far too well won't let it go. 

"Does your mom travel a lot?"

Stefanie stops, her head turning back to her with the bottle still at her lips. Suspicion flickers across her face and Josie's really starting to see why she and Lizzie clash so easily. Lowering the bottle slowly, Stefanie sighs. 

"You heard that?" Josie nods sheepishly, and Stefanie just shakes her head, looking down at the bottle. "Sort of, I guess. It's not all the time, only every so often, but it's always for weeks on end. They keep saying it's for work, to help out some friends, but...I don't know."

The way she trails off, the suspicion in her voice. The hurt. They're familiar feelings to Josie. It only has her heart clenching even tighter, sympathy swelling for something that she's realizing she really does know all too well. Maybe it's slightly different in some aspects, she's sure, but it's still bound to hurt.

"My mom's the same," she tells her gently, getting Stefanie to lift her eyes back up to her. "She's always travelling. She's, uh, out searching for new students for the school so she's usually gone for a few months at a time."

Stefanie's eyebrows raise, her surprise barely concealed. "Well, that definitely explains your twin's constant hostility."

"No, that's just Lizzie," Josie says.

Stefanie chuckles, and she joins in. It fades into a small smile as she raises her shoulder.

"I get how much it sucks. But it's only a few more days, right?"

Stefanie seems hesitant, but she nods. "Yeah. I just...it's the secrets and the lying parts that make it harder."

"I get it," Josie says understandingly.

She glances around the field, and behind them, taking in the excited and evidently confident faces of both her teammates and Stefanie's. Turning back, she nudges her gently with her elbow, her smile growing. 

"But hey, on the bright side, you could still totally kick our asses," she says.

Stefanie's eyebrows lift, but her mouth is already curving up. A spark of her usual mischievous joy returns to her eyes. 

"I plan to," she says sincerely.

Perfectly timed, something knocks right into Josie's shoulder, startling her.

"Not if we have anything to do with it," MG says from right behind them, practically leaning on Josie to look at the two of them. He has his usual competitive smirk in place as he crosses his arms on her shoulder. "We're gonna win."

Stefanie's raised eyebrow turns unimpressed, but the amusement lingers. "If you say so."

Before MG can go into extreme detail of how they're going to win, which Josie can sense he was going to do by the way he starts to lean forward, Stefanie turns her attention away from him. She shoots Josie a smile, far warmer than she would expect from the girl who Lizzie curses under the sun and says is evil incarnate's daughter.

Josie had to laugh when her mom once said she was going to start referring to their uncle Damon as that from then on. 

"Thanks," Stefanie says, handing the water bottle back. She pauses, then tentatively adds, "It was nice to talk to you. It... really helped. Now I have a game to go and win."

She's quick to leave her seat, moving away from their side of the benches with lightning-speed. Josie blinks, but a small smile warms her face. It's admittedly a small weight off of her own chest just talking about even the tiniest part of what she feels about her mom being away for so long. 

"Isn't there some sort of rule about talking to the enemy?"

Josie rolls her eye but turns her head around to her left to look at Kaleb. He's staring at her with narrowed eyes, now a seat behind her along with MG. 

"We're competing for a tacky plastic trophy and a title that'll last for a month until the next game, not battling a war," she says flatly. "I think 'enemy' is a bit strong. Besides, this is a practice game."

"Not in the game of football it isn't," Kaleb counters with a shake of his head, his expression completely serious. Aside from the twitch at the corners of his mouth and the amused glance he shares with MG before looking back at her. "For the next half hour, everyone that isn't wearing a yellow jersey is our enemy. Conspiring is off-limits."

"Conspiring?" MG repeats, drawing his eyebrows together. "Damn, those shows really are rubbing off on us."

The whistle blows before Kaleb can respond. The three them move from the bench, Josie setting aside her water bottle as her dad gestures them all toward him. Her eyes sweep over the benches and come up empty in their search. Lizzie has a tendency to stick around even when she's not playing simply so she can tell them what they did wrong or need to do worse. 

She turns slightly and glances up at the window of their bedroom. No magical glowing lights. She just hopes that Lizzie isn't messing around with the ascendant, not on her own. Anything could happen with that Prison World, and they know the bare minimum about it.

She forces herself to tune into the mini pep talk her dad's giving the team. If anyone else were to overhear it, she imagines they would be confused by him telling them to try a little harder to stay out of the other team's way and make sure not to hold onto the ball for too long, and to stop making good passes. Probably the exact opposite of most pep talks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to throw a football game in there, of course, even if it's just a summer practice! And a proper introduction to Stefanie, at last! Does anyone have any thoughts? I'd love to hear all of them, especially about what could happen next... ❤


	6. We're not at the last resort stage yet

By the time the game is over, Josie's exhausted, and not just from the crushing defeat. They were so close to winning, barely two points separating them in scores. In the last minute, Landon got distracted, the ball went flying, and of course the other team caught it just in time to make a winning goal. 

To say that they're all disappointed is an understatement, though Josie doesn't think anyone more than her dad. His relief when she looked over at him when he blew the whistle was evident, but it's obvious he wasn't pleased by the risk of how close it came. Josie does her best to mask the hint of irritation that pushes to the surface about that. 

Still, he didn't say anything about it, but congratulated them on a good game. Lingering guilt about everything that's happened recently was the reason that Josie came up with and is guessing is correct.

She waits around to have the polite five-minute congratulations with the other team. The same can't be said for Kaleb and Jed. She will admit that she only really talks to Stefanie for those five minutes. Listening to the rest of them gloating right to their faces about how much better they are is the last thing she needs, as familiar as it would be.

As soon as the opportunity presents itself, she and MG are making a beeline off of the field and into the school. Kaleb's already lounging on the stairs, changed out of his jersey and into one of the school's jumpers with his sleeves rolled up as he flips through a book.

A quick greeting and an, "I'll see you in ten minutes," and she's leaving MG with him as she heads up to get changed and ready for class. She pauses in the doorway of her room, her eyes immediately drawn to Lizzie. She's seated on the floor by Josie's bed, legs crossed, book in her lap and a rather distinctive — and alarming — object beside her. 

Josie hurries to close the door behind her back, her eyes widening as Lizzie looks up at her. For just a second, there's a deer-caught-in-headlights-look all over her face, the initial worry of realizing there's someone else in the room. Then she's relaxing. The same can't be said for Josie.

"What are you doing?" she asks, her voice lowered for no reason other than that her instincts have kicked in and they say to be quiet. It faintly concerns her that whispering and sneaking around have become second nature to her. Maybe it does run in the family.

Lizzie's expression quickly morphs, her eyes taking on that bright glint. Josie recognizes it as the crazy-eyed, slightly terrifying look that usually means her chances of winning any sort of argument or debate have narrowed by at least forty percent. Lizzie's on her feet in a second and shifting the book to balance in her arms. It clicks in Josie's mind that it's the Grimoire.

"Did you rip a page out of this?" she asks, her words rushed, urgent but on the verge of excitement.

Josie's eyebrows furrow. "No? Why would I do that?"

"Well, someone has," she quickly says, and she turns the Grimoire carefully in her hands for Josie to see.

Sure enough, slotted almost unnoticeably in-between the pages is a ripped edge. It's almost a perfectly straight line, save for at the very bottom where it juts out into a slightly more jagged shape, but still leaving no other trace of it behind.

"Okay, as weird and suspicious as that is," Josie shakes her head, lifting her eyes back up to Lizzie's in confusion, "how exactly does that help us figure out who it belongs to? Or about the prison world?"

Lizzie doesn't even bother to hide her exasperation, her mouth falling open in a scoff. She's one eyeroll away from the condescending look she tends to use around other people.

"Because now we know what we're looking for," she explains as if it had been obvious. Josie isn't so sure she's aware of what's obvious. "When we were searching Emma's classroom, we were just hoping something would show up. Now we know that we should be looking for a ripped page, probably containing some Grimoire-esque spells or incantations, or even some sort of drawing that'll—"

"Lizzie," Josie interrupts, quickly quieting her. She continues slowly, still processing through Lizzie's jumble of words. "It's one ripped page in a school of careless students and teachers who are constantly writing down notes on the first thing they can get their hands on. I'm not sure how much this is going to help."

She isn't expecting her reasonable point to make much of an impact on Lizzie's already made-up mind. Or the plan that she has clearly been formulating since the second she discovered the missing page. She's just preparing to talk Lizzie out of skipping their optional class to act on it. Lizzie sighs, an obvious sign of her patience already wearing thin, but only holds the Grimoire out closer to Josie. 

"This could be the page, Jo," she tries. "The one that tells us who we're looking for, or could at least give us another clue. It might be the page that tells us about the Gemini Coven."

"There's also a man sitting in a prison world who might be able to do the same thing," Josie counters, lifting her eyebrows. 

Lizzie's face drops and she goes still. "I thought we agreed that the prison world and the crazy knife witch was the last resort?" 

Josie opens her mouth to agree, but Lizzie's already pressing on before she can. 

"We're not at the last resort stage yet, alright? We are far from it."

"I'm just saying that this page might not even have anything to do with who the Grimoire belongs to or the ascendant," Josie explains, shaking her head slowly. "Our goal right now is to figure out who from the Gemini Coven survived. And how, especially without a current leader."

Lizzie finally closes the Grimoire. She presses her lips together and crosses her arms over her chest, the Grimoire tucked underneath as she raises her eyebrows at her.

"So basically you're not going to help me find this page?" she says, and even though it's a question, it's obvious she's sure of the answer already. 

Josie sighs, glancing away in exasperation. "I didn't say I won't help you, I just don't see why it should be the priority right now when we could spend our valuable time focusing on something else."

"This is all we have to work with right now, Jo," Lizzie says, quickly unfolding her arms to thrust the Grimoire back out at her once more. "This stupid Grimoire. Without some other spell from it, the ascendant is pretty much useless. And what's to say that the ripped out page isn't the most important one that has everything we need to know on it?"

"I just don't see us getting that lucky," Josie admits.

Lizzie stares at her as if she's grown two heads and gone insane. Maybe lucky wouldn't be the right word. They would still have to track down the page, even if it did turn out to be the one that held all of the answers to their problems. She doesn't imagine that would be easy.

But the last thing on her mind right now is a piece of paper that would be near impossible to find. Lizzie just stares at her for a moment, a silent debate going on in her head and on her face. She presses her lips together once more and nods to herself.

"Fine," she says, her voice taking on that airy tone that never usually means anything good. She shrugs. "You don't care about the page, I'll look for it myself."

Josie gives a half roll of her eyes out of pure instinctual exasperation, her lips already parting to protest. Of course she won't let her do it alone. Then she falters. The determination is practically radiating off of Lizzie. If this is what she considers a priority, it wouldn't do much harm for her to pursue it, surely.

"But if you're not going to help," Lizzie quickly adds, "which you've already made very clear you're not, can you at least cover for me with Uncle Tyler? He loves you, just make up some excuse for why I'm not there and he'll buy it without question."

Of course there was a catch. As if they're not already going to be in enough trouble as it is considering that game. 

"Are you seriously going to skip the class for this?" she can't help but ask. She knew it was coming, but she had had hope. 

"It isn't mandatory," she points out. "Besides, Uncle Tyler will just be doing basic things since it's not even a proper class. It's just to entertain us, and it'll be some revision or research thing. I won't even be concentrating on half of it without this page still out there, and then he'll know something's up." She raises her eyebrows. "Still think I shouldn't skip?"

Josie sighs. She does have a point. The last time she was distracted by something, she didn't listen to a single thing that had been said the entire class and ended up nearly failing. Josie somehow got roped into helping her make it back up for the next day, meaning she got next to no sleep and nearly set Penelope on fire by accident. She didn't appreciate getting singed right as she was going for a kiss, that's for sure. A repeat of something even remotely similar isn't what she needs right now.

"Alright, I'll cover for you," she says with another sigh.

Lizzie smiles with a hint of smugness that has Josie regretting her decision right away. It's too late now.

"Hey, doesn't that class start in, like, ten minutes?" Lizzie asks, her eyebrows furrowing as she glances at the clock hung up on Josie's side of the room. 

Josie groans but quickly moves past Lizzie to get back to the goal she had in mind when she entered their room. She's quick to grab her things while Lizzie stuffs the Grimoire and the ascendant back into the hidden compartment underneath her window. The second the wooden panel is back in place, she ushers Lizzie out of the room and proceeds to get changed out of her jersey. 

Her mind's a complete mess. She'll be lucky if _she_ manages to pay attention to anything her uncle Tyler says during class. She internally groans. It's like there's a countdown in her head, telling her she's running out of time as things keep getting piled on top of her.

She just has to focus on one thing at a time. It shouldn't be so hard. Right now, it's class. Nothing else. It's much easier to stick to that once she's back downstairs and finds Kaleb still lounging on the stairs, waiting for her with MG, now changed out of his jersey as well and back into one of the school's sweaters.

He smiles brightly in greeting as Kaleb lifts his head in acknowledgement, sporting a smaller but almost as warm smile.

"Lizzie just went past a few minutes ago," MG informs her, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. "She seemed like she was in a rush, she practically flew right by us. Is everything alright?"

Josie pauses, then nods. "Yeah, everything's fine," she tells him.

She really hopes that stays true for a little while longer at least.

* * *

Josie made some good points. Or one good point, at least. It would be nearly impossible to find one ripped page that could potentially help them in a school with a library that's the size of an average house. The number of stray pages that Lizzie's seen strewn all over the school just in the last two days is ridiculous. She would absolutely lose at least a little hope just at the thought of how long it'll take to find it, if she can at all.

Except she already decided to use a locator spell before Josie came into the room. She didn't bother to mention that to her; part of her had wanted to see what Josie's reaction would be. If she was willing to help or not, where her priorities are. Turns out, she was exactly right.

She doesn't mind. She's even a little smug that Josie hadn't thought to suggest it to her in the first place instead of having to completely skip their optional class to go on a search for it. At least this way she can take her time. So long as no one who's going to get her in trouble spots her.

She barely spares MG and Kaleb a glance when she passes them on the stairs, only catching the start of MG's warm greeting and bright smile. She's almost positive Kaleb rolls his eyes, but she feels his gaze follow her the entire way until she's out of sight.

Her plan sort of relied on the Grimoire, but with Josie watching, she didn't want to risk it. They're working together, she knows that, but she can't help but think that their priorities at the moment are just a little bit different. Why make her worry when she's made it clear that she already does that too much?

Instead, she heads straight for the library. As soon as the bell goes and she can be sure the chances of her getting caught have narrowed, she'll go back up their room and retrieve the Grimoire.

For now, she's curious about the books that Josie might have missed when she went through her Gemini Coven craze and practically tore the library apart over the entire summer break.

She spots her Uncle Tyler as she rounds the corner. Her eyes widen. She quickly slips to the right, behind the giant bookcase that hides the little walkway behind it from view from the rest of the room. Her heart's already hammering in her chest, which is absolutely ridiculous. She could easily tell him she was on her way to his class.

Except, he might have wanted to walk with her then. She hasn't been back that long after all, and he hasn't been at the school once yet. He always likes to catch up with her and Josie when they've come back from visiting their mom. Usually, she would appreciate that, but right now, it would be sort of inconvenient. 

A quiet murmuring drifts over to her, just barely audible over her heartbeat in her ears. Carefully, she moves closer to the edge of the bookcase. One of her hands presses against the back of the wood as she pushes herself forward the slightest bit. Peering around it, she quickly scans over what she can now see of the room.

Her eyes lock onto Professor Lockwood. It still feels strange to call him that; he was always just_ Uncle Tyler_ before he started working at the school. She didn't know him until she was around four, when her mom first introduced him with a soft smile and this look on her face that was passed over by a child.

But from the second that he crouched down with a big smile and crinkles of joy around his eyes as he said hi to her and Josie, he's always just sort of felt like an extra member of the family. It wasn't until she was closer to eight that her mom told them that they were introducing a new class now that they had the perfect teacher for it.

Lizzie tends to outright refuse to call him anything other than Uncle Tyler to his face and especially when her mom is staring at her with that exasperated but defeated look. It always seems to make him happy.

She watches him from his spot on the far side of the room; he's leaning back against the wall at the bottom of the stairs, chatting away to one of the new substitute teachers. Lizzie hasn't gotten around to learning his name yet.

Uncle Tyler is smiling brightly as they talk, nodding slowly as if agreeing with him. Then a chuckle is pushing past his lips and he's shaking his head as he ducks it. 

"Hey, wait, don't you have a class?" the substitute asks, a crease appearing on his forehead but his expression barely showing any hint of concern. He spares a glance down at the watch wrapped around his left wrist, his eyebrows lifting a tiny bit. "You've got, like, a minute to get halfway across the building."

Uncle Tyler's face falls, though his laughter remains in the form of two soft lines running down either side of his face and the slight upturn at the corners of his lips. His eyes dart down to the watch, then to the wall opposite him where a big silver clock is hanging. His eyes widen and his shoulders drop.

"It's a good thing I've got superspeed then," he jokes, his grin instantly sparking back to life as he looks back at the other teacher. "See you later? Remember, dinner — the grill, as soon as I'm off work. Matt's meeting us there."

He's already pushing away from the wall and speed-walking away from the guy.

"Just don't be late this time," the guy calls back to him, grinning cheekily at his retreating form. 

Her uncle Tyler rolls his eyes, chuckling again though it's more of an amused scoff this time. He continues walking backwards, turned slightly to throw another look at him, accompanied by a shake of his head. In the blink of an eye, he's gone. 

Lizzie waits, her breath still held in her chest. Her eyes stay intensely focused on the other teacher as he lingers for a moment longer, shaking his head to himself with a smile. He starts moving in the opposite direction, disappearing from her sight for a few seconds as he crosses the room. 

She's quick to move out of sight as he passes by her, slipping around to the side of the bookcase and holding herself tightly in place. He leaves her alone in the library. She breathes out. It's not that she's afraid of anyone seeing her. No one is going to know what her schedule is for the day, but she enjoys the thought of being caught by a teacher who does know where she's supposed to be about as much as she enjoys scrubbing graffiti off of windows in the middle of town.

She relaxes and steps away from the bookcase, walking down the stairs and over to one of the tables. The word searcher is there, and she glances down at it. Her eyebrows lift. Apparently the last person using it was searching for all of the books about Hogwarts. It's less surprising when she hears the joke constantly made. 

Her fingers gently brush over the little scrolls with the letters on them. Where does she even start? She was sure she had a plan. Josie did her research, clearly, but she was only looking for Gemini Coven specific books. Maybe there are ones that don't explicitly talk about them, but reference them in some other way. The search wouldn't have brought those ones out.

Turning slightly, she peers up at the shelves now towering in front of her. She's had to have read at least half of the ones staring down at her by now. Not that she'll admit it. 

Ascendant. That could come up with some useful results. Prison world. She can't quite remember if it allows two-worded searches. There are enough letter scrolls, so it's possible.

She continues gently fingering the scrolls, biting her lip. A crease forms between her eyebrows in a frown. What was Jo's last name? Their family was practically the founders of the Gemini Coven, surely searching for the last name would bring up a few results.

Her mind is blank. It's something Irish-sounding, she's sure of that. Sort of like Uncle Tyler's. Her teeth dig harder into her lip, a brief surge of pain spiking through it. She quickly releases it, a sigh building in her chest but not quite escaping. Why can't she remember it? She's her bio mom, she should be able to remember her last name.

Pushing her fast-building frustration down, she turns her attention back to the searcher. Start easy and simple, and then work up to the less specific things. It'll make things easier that way. 

She picks up the searcher, and carefully, begins to spell out the word. If Josie knew that it was called an ascendant because it was briefly mentioned for one sentence in some Gemini Coven book then there's a good chance there has to be at least one that goes into a little more detail about it. As well as its creator.

It takes a moment once she inputs the last letter, the library silent as she waits. Then it makes a clicking noise, the word registering. It's followed by the dull scrape of books slowly being pushed across their shelves to stick out. Lizzie blinks. Two books. She can't tell if it's better or worse than what she was expecting.

Sighing, she moves forward and pulls them both out the rest of the way. At least it's a start. 

She looks down at their covers, hoping they aren't ones that Josie's already read. Lizzie remembers Josie mentioning holing herself up in the library for a while to try and find any books that will help. 

All Josie apparently came back with was the book that Lizzie had attempted to wave in her face to get her to talk to her again. Something flickers in the back of Lizzie's mind. Where had she even found that book in the first place? It wasn't in the library.

Brushing it off with a shake of her head, she reads over the titles. Neither of them are promising. Still, she sets them down on the table as the start of her research pile before picking the searcher back up. She carefully turns the scrolls once more to spell out "prison world."

To her relief, it works. The books scrape again, and her shoulders drop as she watches at least three more push themselves out towards her. Maybe this isn't such a lost cause after all. If even one of these books can tell them something they don't already know, it'll be a step away from square one. And away from actually having to go back to the prison world.

She takes the books and adds them to the pile. She hesitates, glancing around. Five new books are definitely a start, but she's sure that if she could just remember Jo's last name that she might be able to find something that would point them where they need to go. Why can't she remember it?

Making up her mind, she presses her hand firmly against the table, letting the familiar pulse spread up from the tips of her fingers to her elbow. Then she flicks her hand at the books and mutters the levitating incantation. If she chances her luck and her dad happens to walk in, it won't be worth it. 

She makes sure to reset the searcher before carefully slipping out of the library and down the hall. No one pays her much attention except to move out of her way, making it a lot easier and faster to make her way back up the stairs that are thankfully now vampire-free. 

And her room is empty. Closing the door behind her, she flicks her wrist again, letting the books drop down from where they were hovering. They land with a soft thump on her bed. She twists the lock on the door despite knowing the chances of anyone walking in. Josie's in a class and she's got a feeling her dad has more important matters to deal with considering her mom's absence.

Ignoring the books for now, Lizzie crosses the room and drops down in front of Josie's window for the second time. She repeats the process of removing the wooden panel and uncloaking the Grimoire, leaving the ascendant.

She sets it down on the floor to find the map that she knows Josie has stuffed in a drawer somewhere. Locator spells are like first-level magic for her at this point. They're one of the first things that are taught in class, and it helps that she and Josie were apparently doing them before the school was opened.

Not that they can remember. Lizzie can't help but faintly wonder if that's something else she should be questioning now. 

Pushing the thought to the very back of her priorities, she settles back on her knees. She shifts the Grimoire into her lap and spreads the map out on the floor. It takes up the entire space from where she's sitting to the edge of her own bed. It's better for this kind of thing though considering how much of Mystic Falls it shows. She won't just get some vague answer telling her that it's in Virginia. This way, she can get a rough idea of where exactly in town.

She finds the page she marked in the Grimoire, flipping to it. Why not use the locator spell from the Grimoire that she's trying to find a page from? She tips out a small amount of the ash that's been sitting on her desk for a while onto the centre of the map.

_"Phasmatos Tribum," _she starts to incant slowly,_ "Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem."_

It's not an incantation she's heard of before, even from Emma. But this is the same Grimoire that's provided them with the projection spell for the prison world, so she isn't about to start questioning its reliability.

_"Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras," _she repeats, and glances at the map, "_Sequitas Sanguinem."_

The knot that had been forming in her stomach since this morning loosens slightly at the sight of the ash slowly moving across the map. Her eyes stay glued to it as she continues the incantation under her breath. Her words falter as it stops. 

The ash begins to move again, expanding outwards this time. A crease forms in her eyebrows as she watches it, her heartbeat speeding up a little. The map is quickly being enveloped in the almost glittering, dark grey ash. Then flames spout from the centre and spread across the entire expanse of it.

Lizzie yelps and jumps to her feet, clutching the Grimoire to avoid accidentally dropping it into the fire. The flames quickly engulf the map, curling the corners as the entire thing turns black only to crumble. She stares at the pile of ash now covering the floor. 

"Alright, that didn't go so well," she mutters, frowning. In her experience, locator spells only go wrong like that when the object or person in question is cloaked. Who the hell is cloaking that page?

Frustrated, she grits her teeth and looks back down at the Grimoire. If the page is still cloaked, that means that whoever has it is most likely the same person that the Grimoire belongs to. Her chances of finding it just decreased by about a million. She really is going to have to go on a search through the entire school after all.

"Great," she says quietly, staring at the ripped edge where the page should be. "Just great."

Snapping it shut, she turns and gently tosses the Grimoire onto Josie's bed. Josie's still covering for her with Uncle Tyler, so she has a good forty more minutes until she risks running into a problem. Not including her dad, of course. She should take the opportunity while she has it. 

Glancing over the books she collected from the library, she thinks. Then she grabs the second one from the top and heads out. If she's going to be searching the entire school, she might as well multitask and do some research while she's at it.

* * *

Of all the places they've been to in search of answers over the past years, New Zealand has somehow never made it onto the list. Caroline can't help but be regretful of that now that she's here. The fifteen-hour flight wasn't so much fun, but Bonnie did manage to convince her to get a few hours sleep, so she doesn't feel like collapsing with every step now. 

When they walk into the airport and she finally gets a signal, her phone lighting up with three messages, the feeling quickly resurfaces. One from Josie, two from Lizzie. And a missed call from Alaric. She wants to open them, but when she glances up, Bonnie's already attempting to get their luggage. 

Sighing, she slips her phone back into the pocket of her jacket. As much as it pains her to think about how they must be feeling now that Alaric's told them she's going to be delayed again, she knows she has to focus. They'll understand. This lead is going to pan out, and she'll get to go home with good news. This is a good thing.

She forces any thoughts of Mystic Falls and what lies in wait for her back home to the very back of her mind before she pushes herself to move and help Bonnie. They successfully collect their few bags, go through all the necessities of the airport, then walk out into the streets of New Plymouth. Despite the dark sky above them and the slight chill in the air, there are people walking along the streets, passing them by without a glance.

"I have a feeling that this person we're looking for probably wouldn't appreciate having guests at—" Caroline slips her phone back out of her pocket to check the time. "Ten pm."

Bonnie breathes out a sigh. She turns her head to look at her, raising her eyebrows. It's one of the downsides of travelling they've come to know very well; they're never quite able to calculate the difference in the timezones, and no matter how early it is when they leave one country, it always ends up with them arriving either too late or too early to actually get anything done.

"Hotel?" Bonnie suggests.

Just the way that she says the one word has Caroline noticing how truly exhausted she sounds. She supposes they've both been for some time. She constantly has to remind herself that there's also the matter of Bonnie not having the same ability to go as long as she can without proper rest. 

Even if Caroline's own tiredness has ebbed away by a fraction more than when they were standing in that airport in Nebraska, waiting on their flight home, she could still use a century-long nap. She nods, much to Bonnie's obvious relief. 

Caroline uses her own phone, still in her hand, to pull up directions to the nearest hotel. As soon as it pops up on her screen, they start walking, following the directions. Even in the darkness of night, Caroline can say that this particular part of New Zealand is pretty. Every street is lined with tall lamps that cast a soft, but bright and warm glow across the road and the sidewalks, and every building somehow manages to look inviting in some way.

She makes a mental note to suggest it to the girls for their next weekend trip, after Belgium if she can make it a long one. Maybe after this, it can be a month-long. Maybe she'll actually get to go home with them at the end of it as well. She's not getting her hopes up on that part, though. She knows how this goes. 

It doesn't take long once they've found the place for them to get a room, lingering in the reception for barely two minutes. Being able to compel them a room at the nearest hotel, motel, or bed and breakfast is just a handy perk that Caroline is more than willing to take advantage of when they're constantly on the move and in need of a place to rest. She's always sure to leave money on the desk when they leave. 

The second that they're in, Bonnie drops her bags by the bed before crawling onto it and curling up. Caroline smiles at her and sets her own bags down by the foot of the bed once she checks the door. The last thing she needs right now is to have to be on guard for someone bursting in while they're trying to rest simply because she forgot to lock the door.

She doesn't join Bonnie right away, deciding that the sooner she changes into something more comfortable the better. She's almost positive she's been wearing the same clothes for far longer than is acceptable at this point. The bathroom is practically the same size as the room, which is bigger than the last one they were in. Compulsion really does work wonders.

Bonnie's already changed when she walks back out into the room. Caroline smiles to herself at the familiar, dark grey and well-worn t-shirt that hangs from her shoulders, just a size too big for her. There are a few things that they bring with them no matter what.

She moves over to the bed, joining Bonnie who's now sitting up and staring down at her phone. Her smile fades as she glances at her and catches the subtle frown pulling her lips down.

"Enzo?" she asks carefully, her eyes darting to the phone.

Bonnie takes a moment to respond, her eyes moving across the screen. Then she sighs, turning her head to look at her. 

"Yeah," she confirms. "He called me on the plane while you were asleep, and we talked for a few minutes, but..."

She trails off, her gaze drifting to the bed as she just shakes her head slowly. Caroline knows how this goes, and she doesn't need her to try and find the words to explain. If anyone knows what it's like to be away from home, it's her. It only makes the guilt that's become a permanent resident in her chest grow that little bit more. 

She reaches out, resting her hand over the one closest to her. Bonnie looks back up at her as she squeezes gently. It's the smallest comfort she can possibly give her right now, but it's one she knows that she needs. 

"It's just — it's not getting any better," Bonnie continues. "You'd think after so many years of doing this that it would be easier, but every time I go home, it's somehow worse."

"Because you always know it's not going to last." Bonnie looks into her eyes, and Caroline smiles sadly. "I get it. And..." she takes a deep breath, readying herself for Bonnie's reaction as she sits up a little straighter, "...it's also why I think you should reconsider what we talked about."

Bonnie's expression falls right away, just as she was expecting, and she's shaking her head again. 

"No, Care, I already told you," she says firmly, "I'm not just gonna pack up and go home. I can't leave you to do this by yourself, and I couldn't face Lizzie and Josie if I did that. I'm here to help them. And you. I was just home anyway, it's fine, seriously."

"Bonnie, I love you," Caroline says seriously, shifting herself around to face her better as she holds her gaze. "You are my best friend, and I couldn't be more grateful for everything you've done for me, and for the girls. But you have family back home waiting for you as well. You should be with them—"

"And I will be," Bonnie swiftly cuts her off, "because we're going to track down this person tomorrow, get them to tell us everything they know, and then we're going home. Together."

Caroline starts to sigh, lifting her eyes to the ceiling as she goes to protest. Bonnie shifts her hands is one squeezing Caroline's hand now, making her look back down at her.

"You're not going to change my mind, Caroline," she says, as simple as that. "I've been telling you that since I decided I was going to do this with you. Besides, it's only a few more days at most."

Caroline looks at her, searching between her eyes for any last-ditch attempt she can make. But she's known since they got on that first plane that she's not going to change Bonnie's mind. Part of her is glad — beyond relieved to not be doing this alone and to have her by her side. Another part is the one that's been twisted with guilt and regret for getting her involved, and want nothing more than for her to stop saving them all the time. At least just once. 

The corners of her mouth pull up despite that, the same sad smile reforming as Bonnie's does the same. 

"What about Enzo?" she asks, almost jokingly as Bonnie's smile splits. "I can't imagine Damon's too happy about the delay either. You told them it would only be a week this time. You're already two days late."

Bonnie lifts a shoulder in a shrug but seems to forget to drop it back down, leaning her head toward it.

"There's not much they can do about the delay," she points out. "And Damon's probably too preoccupied right now to be bothered about a few extra days. It's Enzo I'm more worried about. Apparently even Damon's complaining about how hard it's been to keep him distracted. He seems to think that something bad's going to happen."

Caroline's eyebrows lift. A disbelieving scoff of a laugh slips past her lips as her smile grows.

"Seriously? I know he's complained a few times in the past since he's officially the only person who likes him in Mystic Falls without either of us around, but he usually doesn't mind so much, and it's always just him being dramatic and joking around. What's gotten into Enzo?"

Bonnie just shrugs, but shakes her head and pulls out her phone with the hand Caroline doesn't have a hold of. She scrolls for a few seconds then turns it towards her, letting her read over the message Damon sent when they were on the plane a few hours ago.

"Oh my god," she breathes out in another light laugh. "I know Enzo likes a drink every now and then, but hanging around the Grill all day just to keep Damon company? I think Damon might be lying about who's not handling this so well. And—" her eyebrows knit together, "—they've gotten on Stefanie's nerves? That is officially a new level for both of them."

"Elena not being there probably doesn't help with that," Bonnie adds. "I don't know how, but she tends to be able to keep things calm around there. Mostly."

Caroline hums and nods, but her grin only widens as she rereads over the text. She can just imagine the chaos that Mystic Falls must be in. Her eyes widen.

"Oh, speaking of Elena: has she said anything else to you about meeting us before we head home?" she asks.

"Uh, yeah," Bonnie quickly pulls her phone back, leaving Damon's message in search of Elena's, "she didn't think she was going to be able to when we were heading home a few days ago, but I updated her on the change of plans. She was supposed to be going home when we were, but the girl that Jeremy needed her to help? It took a little longer than she was expecting."

"So, Jeremy's not with her?" Caroline asks, her eyebrows drawing together once again. "I thought she was supposed to be staying with him while she was away from home. It's been, like, a week now, right?"

Bonnie shakes her head and stops scrolling. "He's back home right now; apparently Alaric wanted him to stick around for some help for a couple more days. She's at his house, though, and she says he's going to be meeting her tomorrow."

"Where does he even live?" Caroline asks, the realization that she has no idea herself striking her.

For the last fourteen years, she's heard that Jeremy's been in and out of Mystic Falls, on the move around the world, but she hasn't heard of him lingering anywhere. It's a good thing he's always around the school for Christmas and his birthday or else he'd never get a card from her.

Bonnie raises a shoulder again, looking up from her phone. "I'm not sure," she admits, "but Elena's already said she should be able to meet up with us on the way home now that things have changed. We'll just have to see what happens tomorrow before we decide on where would be best."

Caroline nods again. She watches as Bonnie taps away at her phone for a few more seconds before tossing it to bottom of the bed without a second thought. It's followed by a sigh that's deep and has her shoulders collapsing into the rest of her body.

"I'm feeling kinda tired," Caroline says before Bonnie can. "Wanna officially call it a night?"

Bonnie scoffs, the corners of her lips tugging up. "Call it a century is more like it."

Caroline grins, agreeing with her, but Bonnie nods. She simply tugs the blanket back and slides under it. Caroline follows suit and soon enough, they're curled up in the bed that's probably the most comfortable thing they've had to sleep on in a while. The exhaustion fully hits the second her head's on the pillow, and she easily falls back asleep alongside Bonnie. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A mysterious ripped page? Caroline and Bonnie had to travel all the way to New Zealand? I wonder what that's about... Any thoughts? I would love to hear every single one of them, including theories. I'm so excited for you guys to see what happens next! ❤


	7. Here goes everything

A nice, peaceful rest in a lovely hotel would be exactly what Bonnie needs if it didn't feel like it lasts about a second. Dreamless nights of sleep are the bane of her existence. Or at least one of them. At least nightmares feel like they last for hours. 

When she blinks her eyes open to find sunlight streaming in through the windows, however, she does admittedly feel a bit better. A little more refreshed and ready for another day of searching and travelling, most likely. That's how most of their days have been going lately with the exception of the start of the summer break.

The bed shifts slightly. Bonnie carefully rolls onto her side, much to the relief of her retinas which were starting to burn from staring absentmindedly out of the windows and right into the rising sun. She feels like she's watched the sun come up more times than she can count in the space of just a single day.

Caroline's already sitting up, cross-legged on top of the blanket with her head bent over something in her lap. Even with her hair obscuring her face, Bonnie can tell which expression she's got on her face. It's that one she gets when she concentrates: her eyebrows furrowed the tiniest bit, a crease between them as she chews on her bottom lip. She's probably running through her entire plan in her head for the tenth time. 

As if sensing her watching her and her departure from unconsciousness, Caroline turns her head to look at her. Sure enough, for just a split second, Bonnie catches that exact look on her face. It's quickly replaced by a warm smile that's still tired around her eyes but far more awake than she's been for the last week, and even months before.

"Hey, you're awake," she says. "I was just going over the directions. I wasn't sure if we were gonna have to get a cab or if we could just walk it there."

"And?" Bonnie asks, already pushing herself up on her elbows.

She's used to Caroline's strange alertness early in the morning. She would say it's because Caroline's a vampire and that the past few years have gotten her used to it, but in truth, she's always been like this. The first one awake and the first one ready to drag her out of bed for the day she's been planning in her sleep.

Caroline shifts around to face her better the second she asks. It gives Bonnie a clear view of her phone, which she appears to have pulled up a map on. 

"We're only a forty-five-minute walk from the address," she tells her, reading from her phone. "It seems to be a house, which we were expecting, obviously. But by the looks of it, it's pretty secluded. It's literally surrounded by trees. And a lake."

Bonnie's eyebrows lift as she looks at the phone despite being unable to see it upside down.

"Like they're hiding," she murmurs, almost unaware of voicing it. "Kyana was telling us the truth."

"It's certainly a first," Caroline agrees, her voice taking on a slightly bitter note.

They've had so many losses over the years that even Bonnie can't help but expect the worst by now. But it seems like maybe this time it'll be different. They might actually be getting somewhere. She has to hope that's true. 

"Alright," she says, lifting her eyes to look at Caroline. "When are we going?"

Caroline falters. She glances back down at her phone, her lips parting. 

"Well, it's only eight right now," she says slowly, the cogs clearly turning in her head as she thinks it over. "By the time we got there, it would be closer to...half ten? Assuming whoever we're going to see is an average person, that might still be a little too early for two strangers to show up at their house unannounced to interrogate them on a dead coven."

"So," Bonnie pushes herself up completely, "what I'm hearing is that we can afford to get breakfast, and then take a forty-five-minute walk into the middle of the woods."

A smile forms on Caroline's face, and it actually reaches her eyes. She straightens up, lifting her head, and she nods. 

"Sounds like a good plan to me."

The way she says it has Bonnie right back in Mystic Falls, when they were sixteen. Before everything, when that light, playful tone was common and not a once-in-a-blue-moon phenomenon. She misses when they could be so carefree. Bonnie smiles back brightly.

They're quick to get ready, passing each other as they cross the room back and forth to grab certain things, throwing on the newest clothes they have with them. Bonnie kneels by the bed, stretching under it to retrieve her phone that must have been kicked off while they were asleep. 

She pulls one of her bags closer to her in an attempt to find the smaller one that's easier for day travelling. Her thumb accidentally brushes the screen of her phone as she digs her other hand through her few belongings. It lights up with the two message notifications, both dated sometime in the middle of the night. Another disadvantage of time zones. 

She pauses in her search and opens the first one tentatively, already worrying about what it's going to say. It's from Enzo, though, and when she opens it, she can't help but smile. It's just another check-in that she's alright. Apparently, Damon insisted that he ask again, and he complied, of course, one message clearly not enough. 

Typing out a quick reply, she assures him that everything's fine and that she'll definitely be back in just a few short days. She then checks the other one, and it's just a confirmation from Elena about trying to meet up tomorrow. She locks her phone back up, knowing that her response won't be seen until hours later anyway.

So far, nothing is going wrong. There's a plan, and Caroline's actually perked up and very nearly bubbly. It's a glimpse of the happy Caroline, and she just hopes that any news she gets from home isn't going to burst the bubble. Today is a good day. Full of hope.

She sets her phone down beside her bag before continuing her search. It barely takes a few seconds for her to find what she's looking for and pulls the bag out. With it now found, she goes to push the rest of her things to the side for later. She falters when she catches sight of the thing that the bag had been hiding.

Her eyes dart to where Caroline's going over a checklist of some sort on the other side of the room, then back down to her bag. It's not essential to bring it with them. It would be perfectly safe in the room while they're gone for a few hours. 

The longer she stares at it, trying to make up her mind, the more nauseous it makes her feel. Just the thought of it being out of her reach, and even the smallest possibility of losing it. She makes a decision and grabs the ripped page from her Grimoire back in Mystic Falls, quickly slipping it into her bag. Caroline even agreed that it was a good idea to have it on her, so she sees no reason why she shouldn't do just that. Even if Caroline doesn't quite know what's really on it.

She zips up her luggage bag, slides it underneath the bed, and grabs her phone. She then pushes herself to her feet before securing her phone safely alongside the now-folded page, and slings the bag over her shoulder. A weight almost lifts off her chest when she does, a feeling of security sliding into place.

"Ready to go?" she calls over to her

Caroline glances over at her, then pauses, biting her bottom lip. She does a quick sweep of the room. Seemingly satisfied, she nods, her lips parting, and sucks in a deep breath.

"Yeah." She flashes her a smile. "Let's go."

* * *

"You tried a locator spell on the page?" Josie asks. 

Lizzie rolls her eyes, keeping in time with Josie's pace even when it falters as she turns to look at her. She asks it as if she's surprised the thought ever even crossed Lizzie's mind. Frankly, she should be insulted, but she knows that Josie's just trying to figure out why she never thought of it herself. 

"Of course I did," Lizzie says, waving it off. "Did you really expect me to go searching the entire school for it? That would take _days,_ and I just didn't think we had the time."

She then straightens up a little, looking away gives a half shrug, folding her arms.

"Unfortunately, we might have to find a way to do that seeing as how someone decided to go and cloak the damn thing."

Josie's level of exasperation can't reach any higher. At least, Lizzie's hoping it can't. She doesn't even think that it's necessary; it's not as if she's telling her that she's going to drop everything in their lives just to search the school that they should know every inch of by now. She's not even suggesting that she help her. Well, she isn't to now.

Josie takes in a deep breath, dropping her incredulous gaze. As reassuring as that would be to Lizzie that she isn't about to lecture her or something along the same lines, she's also got her hands out in front of her. It's usually the gesture that comes right before things get worse.

The calm before the storm, some might say. Although, that particular phrase is usually used while referring to Lizzie. If only people knew the half of it. They might not think that Josie is the sweet, quiet, totally-calm-no-matter-what one.

"Okay, let's forget about the page for now," Josie says slowly, keeping her voice hushed as they walk.

Lizzie would have much rathered have the conversation in their room, but she couldn't find Josie anywhere despite it being dark outside and everyone else that's back at the school already was mostly in their rooms. It wasn't until she wandered past the library that she found her.

She attempted to convince her to talk with her back up in their room, away from any potential listening ears. She knows what the vampires are like with their midnight snacks, especially a certain someone who thinks that no one's caught on to him sneaking out at night. 

Lizzie opens her mouth to argue for what feels like the millionth time in this loop they seem to have been stuck in. 

"We have bigger issues, Lizzie, even if you don't see it that way," Josie continues before she can, her voice taking on a firm edge that's new and not one that Lizzie is liking. "We have to focus on dad not finding out that we have the ascendant and the Grimoire, and we still have to figure out what we're doing next."

Lizzie wants to argue yet again, and point out that they already know what they should be doing next. The plan was to talk to their parents, together, and in the meantime, look through the Grimoire for clues as to who it could belong to. That was the plan, and it was a good one if Lizzie does say so herself. 

But at the same time, she knows she's right. Of course she's right. Their entire lives, Lizzie's always tried to make it so she's always the right one, and Josie's gone along with her just for the sake of it. But she's always been the one making suggestions that end up working out far better, and now especially. She isn't holding back anymore. Lizzie's sort of glad. 

"Maybe so," Lizzie sighs, deciding not to make her point about the plan. It wouldn't do her any good. "But I don't think we should just pass this off as nothing."

"And we're not," Josie agrees, emphasizing slowly as she looks at her again. "We're just focusing on the main priorities. Even if dad finds out we have the Grimoire, the page will still be out there. We need to stay focused on what we have right now before we don't."

A cold chill slips through Lizzie's veins and crawls up her spine. She turns her eyes back on Josie, the dread settling in the pit of her stomach, waiting for its moment. She should have seen it coming the second that Josie started talking about their next move.

"Please tell me you're not talking about going back to the prison world," she says, her anxiety slipping into her voice underneath the words with a slight, inaudible shake.

Josie hesitates. It's only for a millisecond — a fraction of a millisecond even, barely long enough for anyone who blinks to be able to catch it. But being her twin has its perks. She can read her like the Grimoires they've studied a thousand times together since they were six. Josie barely glances at her from the corner of her eyes, avoiding looking directly at her, and Lizzie's stomach flips.

"I just think that it's an option we should reconsider a bit more," she says. 

Lizzie's jaw practically drops to the ground. She does her best to keep her face a mask of neutrality.

"We've already considered it," she says slowly in an attempt to sound like she isn't on the verge of panicking just at the thought of going back to the place. "And we agreed that it was our last resort. Remember? So, let's stop considering it."

Josie rolls her eyes, and Lizzie notices the twitch in the corner of her mouth. She always used to whenever Josie got mad at her or upset with something she's said, but Josie never acted on it so she pretended she never saw it at all. Lizzie comes to a stop, staring at her as Josie continues a few steps forward.

"Why are you so intent on going back to that place?" she asks, her eyes narrowing.

Josie realizes she isn't beside her and stops, turning back to face her. She glances around with obvious concern of someone overhearing, despite no one else even being out of their rooms this late at night. As she turns back to her, the exasperation returns.

"I'm not," Josie says, giving a half shrug. "I just think that we'd actually get somewhere if we were focusing on a living, breathing, human being rather than a book."

"You — hold on, haven't we already had this argument?" Lizzie asks, throwing her hands out. "You agreed to focus on the Grimoire. Remember? That was the _plan_. Why are you changing your mind now?"

Josie sighs, looking away from her again with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm not changing my mind," she says, almost sounding tired. "But, Lizzie, I actually want answers."

"And I don't?" Lizzie shoots back in disbelief. "Have you not noticed that we've been working together? Or are we looking for completely different things?"

Josie pauses, taking a moment. She just stares at her as she shakes her head slowly.

"You tell me," she finally says. 

Lizzie stops, taken aback. She has to be hearing her wrong. This doesn't even make any sense, they were getting along just fine before, and she was sure that they were, for once, on the same page. How could Josie even question her?

"What are you talking about?" Lizzie asks, her mouth stretching humourlessly. "Jo, we're both looking for answers, remember? Because mom and dad are still lying to us? We're on the same side here."

Josie lifts her eyebrows at her, shaking her head again. She doesn't respond as she glances away. It's clear she doesn't want to press the subject further. Lizzie isn't so eager to just let it go, though, her confusion swirling around with thought after thought in her head, trying to figure out what the hell is happening.

Josie was the one who spent the entire summer break trying to convince her to help her, so why is she suddenly pulling away from her as if she would rather work alone? She knows she still wants her independence, and Lizzie understands that now. But why decide now that they shouldn't work together?

A thought enters her mind and she latches onto it as it hits her square in the chest. Surely she's wrong. She blinks slowly, her eyes narrowing further at Josie.

"Are you still mad at me?" she asks, her own exasperation shining through in her voice.

She's already sick of this whole thing. They're supposed to be working together to confront their parents, not tearing each other's heads off and blowing up the entire thing. They might as well just hand over the ascendant if that's the case.

"I thought we got over that when you took a bullet for me and we had our whole twin moment," Lizzie goes on. "You were fine in all of your postcards, and the second I got back here you begged me to help you. So, I don't get why you would still be mad."

"I'm not mad at you," Josie quickly says, shaking her head as if the thought is just as ridiculous as Lizzie thought. 

A tiny weight lifts off of Lizzie's chest once more. That's one less thing to worry about, but it still doesn't clear anything up. If Josie isn't mad at her, then what's going on with her? It's like she's pulling away all over again, except Lizzie can't think of a single reason why this time. 

"Look, I have to meet Serena and Landon," Josie tells her, "we're still trying to figure out what happened to Rafael and how we can reverse it. It's taking longer than we thought, and we're no closer to working it out."

Lizzie's lips part to argue, a noise of protest slipping past them. Josie isn't staying to hear it, though. She's already turning around and walking away from her, leaving her with some promise to talk more later. 

Lizzie's shoulders drop. She watches her retreat, a helpless feeling clawing its way into her chest. What the hell is going on? Things were fine. Josie's been tense since they found out about the merge, but they agreed not to mention it, and especially not say that a certain one of them is obviously going to lose.

Or at least, they did silently. It wasn't exactly spoken, but Lizzie was positive that Josie wasn't letting it get to her now that they have the Grimoire to work with and more information about the prison world. 

Shaking her head to herself, she clenches her jaw. This will blow over. It's just stress. Besides, they're still working together on this, no matter what Josie seems to think. In a few days, she'll come around.

She starts to turn around, deciding to head back up to their room. She's already gone over three of the books from the library, she might as well check out the other one while she has the free time. If Josie's going to be pushing her away, then she's going to continue working on this to prove to her that she's serious about it.

Maybe that's the problem. She doesn't trust her enough.

The second she spins around, she nearly walks right into someone. Her eyes widen, caught off-guard. 

"Dad," she greets him, plastering on a bright smile. It's maybe a little too much since confusion flickers across his face. "Hey, shouldn't you be...doing something?"

He raises an eyebrow at her. A smile tugs his mouth up as he shakes his head in amusement and seemingly lets her strange behaviour. She supposes it's probably no stranger than usual.

"I was actually looking for you," he says.

Her stomach flips. This is it. He knows. He's noticed that the Grimoire or the ascendant is missing and he's put the pieces together and figured out that it was them who took them. He knows everything. 

"You were?" she asks, trying to play it cool. Totally cool, casual, nonchalant. The complete opposite of not suspicious. 

Switching tactic seems smarter. It's at least safer and far less likely to have her shoving her foot right in her mouth.

"What for? Have you heard from Mom? Because, I texted her this morning, but she hasn't gotten back to me yet. Has the storm gotten worse in..." She pauses, pretending to try and think. "Where is she again?"

She watches his expression carefully, ready to catch any little twitch. He opens his mouth slightly but pauses, and his eyes flicker away for just a second. She presses her lips together tightly. He doesn't exactly make himself hard to read. At least not to people who actually know what they're looking for.

"Uh, Atlanta," he answers, nodding along as if it'll convince her any more than his lie will. He clears his throat, obviously realizing he's about to dig himself an even bigger hole. "But yeah. Unfortunately, the storm is still pretty bad. She's trying her best to get home as soon as she can, but without any flights on and the roads all closed off, it's hard for her."

Lizzie isn't sure if he's trying to convince her or himself anymore. Either way, it isn't working. 

"That's actually not what I wanted to talk to you about, though." His head tilts, faltering. "Well, it sort of is — I think we're overdue one of our talks. Don't you?"

The words are soft and gentle, accompanied by a warm smile. It's the same one he gives her every time he wants to talk to her about her mom, and the same for when she's in a bad place. It's usually comforting then and works like a charm, making her immediately revert back to a child just wanting her dad to reassure her that everything is going to be okay. 

It has her softening slightly. It's easier to forget he's still lying. Maybe he doesn't know anything after all. There is a possibility that he had no idea about the ascendant and the Grimoire. Maybe it was just her mom.

It doesn't really make any sense, and the thought that her mom would keep something like that from all of them hurts her even more, but she finds herself desperately hoping that at least one of them is genuinely clueless. It'll sting less when they finally figure out what reason there would be to keep it all a secret in the first place. 

Smiling back, she nods. "Yeah, I do."

The response has his face lighting up. He looks genuinely happy at her wanting to talk to him. They didn't really get a chance to after the vote came back for what would happen to him before she was taking off for Europe with her mom. If she's honest, she avoided the conversation on purpose. It was easier than telling him how much it hurt to know that he had betrayed the school like that. But she wants to talk to him now.

He gestures his head to the side and she nods again, following his lead as they make their way down the hall, back towards his office. She glances back over her shoulder, her thoughts returning to Josie.

Maybe this is exactly the opportunity they need. Josie would agree, she's sure of it. 

* * *

Breakfast was surprisingly nice. Not that Bonnie was expecting otherwise, but considering everything going on, it's an odd occurrence to actually enjoy something. But she and Caroline actually smiled and joked around a little more than usual to the point where things almost felt normal.

Even when Caroline snuck a drink from the blood bag that she managed to snatch from the hospital nearby, Bonnie just hid a laugh behind her hand, reminded of when Caroline first turned. Once Bonnie adjusted to the chance, Caroline was trying to sneak a drink at every single place they went to. It was nice while it lasted. 

"Who decides they want to live in the middle of nowhere where they are literally, like, thirty miles from their nearest neighbour?" Caroline asks to disguise her complaining about the walk. 

"Isn't your home about that far from town?" Bonnie asks, turning to look at her long enough to have Caroline notice her grin.

She rolls her eyes at her and huffs but doesn't try and make a counter-argument. Instead, she shifts the subject slightly to the left as she lifts her eyes and looks around them.

"How much further again?" She glances back behind them. "We're on Lake Road. That's close, right?"

Bonnie looks down at the napkin they've been clutching onto since they left that bar in New Orleans, then at her phone. "Yeah. Actually...the quickest route to it is just up there."

Caroline follows to where Bonnie's point. She blinks and falters in her steps for a moment.

"You mean up that super shady narrow lane that doesn't even look like a path but more like the entrance to the witch's lair from Hansel and Gretel?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Of course," Caroline sighs.

She starts walking again all the same, with Bonnie right beside her, and they head up the lane. It's surrounded by trees on either side, the branches overlapping above them, the sunlight shining through in narrow beams every few steps like little spotlights that make the air swirl and shimmer. As Bonnie glances around at the seemingly endless expanse of trees and wood that, she can't help but think it's more of a forest than a pathway. 

"When Kyana said they were trying to stay off the radar, she really meant it," she comments, the apprehension slipping into her voice.

That twisting uncertainty is back in her stomach, making her throw a glance over her shoulder. Something's off. She can't pinpoint what exactly, but the dread that's slowly building inside of her with each step closer to the address can't be a good sign.

Caroline scoffs, agreeing with a huff as she brushes something off of her arm. She must sense Bonnie's wariness though; she glances over at her, her expression softening and tensing at the same time.

"Do you feel something? Is it your witchy intuition? Because," she waves a hand toward her, "you know I completely trust your instincts, and if you feel like something's wrong, we can find some other way to get there."

Bonnie manages a small smile at that. Their first couple of leads went nowhere, and every time, Bonnie sensed there was something off before they even got to the meeting location. All times, the people they were meeting tried to attack them. Apparently, some aren't so fond of people asking questions about the Gemini Coven so openly.

Since then, Caroline's said she'll follow her lead. She trusts her instincts more than their sources now. This time, though, it's different. Something's off, for sure, but it's...more intense. A feeling of dread clawing its way up her spine, as if she knows exactly what they're about to walk into. Just without the actual information. 

Despite that, she shakes her head. This isn't the first time someone's said they know someone else who will be able to help them, but there's something about Kyana that makes her trust her. If she says that whoever they're about to meet can help them, then she believes her. She's just hoping that doesn't come back to bite her.

"It's nothing," she assures Caroline. "Let's keep going. We're nearly there — look, I can see the house from here."

She's sure it was the right decision as Caroline visibly relaxes, though she still remains alert, like always. A perk of her vampire instincts is always being ready for danger. They're a good team when she thinks about it. They always have been in some ways.

It only takes another two minutes to finally leave the trees behind. They walk out into a clearing of sorts and are faced with the house, along with the lake stretching out at the front of it. Bonnie isn't sure if the sight of the mountains in the near distance assures her or sets her even more on edge. They're well and truly closed in.

Upon further inspection, Bonnie notices that the house looks more like a lodge. It's two-stories, with a slanted roof that sits just above two windows that look out onto the lake. It's built with a type of sandstone that gleams under the light of the beaming sun high above them as if imbued with its very own magic. It's even got a windchime hanging down from the shelter that juts out from halfway down the wall, the five miniature silver birds not moving an inch as the air remains dry and humid.

Before either of them can speak, the napkin in Bonnie's hand catches fire. She hisses, quickly dropping it to the ground in shock. The flames just grow, but stay in control, curling around the napkin as they both stare at it until it's just a pile of ash and the flames die down on their own.

That at least explains Kyana's muttering when she wrote out the address, she thinks. A protection spell to ensure that they wouldn't be able to hand out the address to anyone. 

"Of course she spelled it," Caroline says, nodding as if that makes total sense with a voice that says otherwise. 

Caroline glances at her, the uncertainty written all over her face. This could be it, either the thing that they've been looking for for years, or the one that's going to be the final disappointment that they have to return home with.

Brushing off the napkin, Bonnie motions her head toward the house. Caroline sucks in a breath. She tilts her head up the tiniest bit as she looks straight ahead at the house. 

Bonnie notices her right hand stretching across for a brief moment, twisting at the ring on her left. A pang of sympathy hits her, but it's gone as quickly as it comes as Caroline drops her hand back to her side.

"Here goes everything, I guess," she mutters.

Then she's marching forward, not breaking stride once as her air of intimidating confidence and determination envelops her. Bonnie smiles slightly, then follows her, forcing down the bubbling of anxiety inside of her. 

They reach the door and stop. There's no sign hanging in the square window of the little wooden door, so Bonnie thinks it's safe to assume that it merely gives off the impression of a lodge rather than being one. Caroline doesn't even hesitate. She lifts her hand and knocks on the door three times before letting it swing back to her side. 

They wait. A beat passes in silence. 

Bonnie glances at Caroline, lifting her eyebrows an inch. Caroline just shrugs in response, but her shoulders don't drop back down and she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. Bonnie watches her concentrate, her eyes flicking back and forth across the door. 

She looks at her and nods quickly, giving her silent question an answer. Bonnie's insides twist and tug, trying to get her attention, but she continues to ignore them. She turns back to the door and is the one to knock this time. They wait again. Another beat passes.

"Hello?" Caroline calls out uncertainly. "We just want to talk. If you could just, please, let us—"

The door clicks and opens in the blink of an eye. Caroline swiftly cuts herself off, both of them staring at the girl now standing in front of them. Her hair is dark and rests on either one of her shoulders in slight waves, her eyes wide but wary and an almost piercing light shade of green as she stares up at them. Bonnie will admit, she's not quite what she was expecting, but she knows better than anyone that looks can be deceiving. Even if the girl does look about ten years younger than them.

She offers them a smile, but a part of it is clearly forced. Her eyes flit behind them. There's an obvious tension held in her, and it only seems to grow as her gaze lingers on Caroline for a split second longer. At least that answers one question. 

"Can I help you?" she asks politely, her voice warm and gentle and that of a child, but still cautious. Bonnie can tell right away that as young as she may look, she's probably been through nearly as much as they have in her lifetime. At least enough to know better when opening the door to two strangers.

Caroline and Bonnie glance at each other. Caroline nods, turning her attention back to the girl.

"Actually, yes," she sighs. "See, we went to New Orleans to talk to this witch. We're actually looking for some answers about something. And she — Kyana — gave us this address."

"She said you would be able to help us?" Bonnie adds, lifting her eyebrows as the girl's eyes flick between them again. "Is that true?"

"Kyana sent you?" the girl asks.

They both nod, Caroline a little more frantically. The girl pauses for a moment, seeming to take the two of them in as she considers. Her expression shifts slightly when she looks at Caroline again, hardening in such a subtle way. The exact way that all witches do when faced with an unfamiliar vampire. 

Then her scrutinising gaze flicks back to Bonnie. Recognition instantly sparks in her eyes, and Bonnie smiles. The girl relaxes a little, a small amount of the tension seeming to ease away at the sight of her. There's always something about witches. It's easier to trust when there's an instant connection. 

"What kind of answers are you looking for?" she asks, the question aimed mostly at Bonnie. She glances back at Caroline, though, offering her some sort of olive branch in the form of her compliance to at least hear them out. 

Before either of them can answer, a voice calls out from somewhere inside of the house. 

"Darling, you said you were going to tell them to leave. What is taking so long? If that's Rebekah, I swear I'm going to find a way to hex her. She won't pick up her bloody phone, and I've already told her that I am not going to be her messenger to Marcel just because the two of them have broken up. Again. Just because I'm the last brother she has, does not mean that I have to fill Klaus and Elijah's roles."

Bonnie and Caroline both freeze as the girl turns to look over her shoulder at the sound of it, not fazed in the slightest. 

"Please tell me that's not who—" Bonnie starts.

"I'm really hoping it's not," Caroline says. "It can't—"

She swiftly cuts herself off as footsteps echo on the wooden floors of the house, her lips still parted but not a sound coming out. They both stare, wide-eyed at the man now standing in the doorway. Bonnie's chest constricts too tightly, every hair on her body standing up as that dread finally welcomes her with open arms.

"You...how..." Caroline tries to say, obviously at a loss for words, resulting in her simply gaping at him with fear and confusion.

"No," Bonnie says slowly, already beginning to shake her head. "No, you're — you were supposed to be dead."

He looks at the two of them. His own eyes widen a touch, his eyebrows lifting slightly in surprise. Then he relaxes with such ease, folding his arms as he leans into the doorframe in one smooth action.

"You know, it's funny, but I actually get that quite a lot," Kol says, an easy grin flirting at the corners of his mouth as his eyes sparkle with amusement and pure hatred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE BIG REVEAL! Well, not that big, I guess. But did anyone see that coming?? How are we feeling about it all so far? Any thoughts or theories? Maybe about what's going to happen next with Caroline and Bonnie, or why Josie's pushing Lizzie away? I'd love to hear all of it! ❤


	8. I guess lying really does run in this family

Caroline's heart races. It shouldn't physically be able to considering the only blood inside of her came from a hospital bag that she had discreetly had at breakfast. And yet, there it is, pounding away loudly in her head and ears, and pushing against her ribs as if trying to break them as she stares at Kol. She's aware of Bonnie tensed up next to her. This was a terrible idea. 

"What's going on?" the girl asks, now glancing from Kol to the two of them with apprehension. "How do you know them?"

"We're sort of...old family friends," Caroline tries, forcing a humourless, over-the-top-sweet smile as her eyes narrow. "Yeah, we go way back. Though, personally, I was more of a fan of your siblings."

It slips out. It was a dangerous remark in her head, never mind to say out loud, and yet, she can't bring herself to regret it. Just at the sight of him, her hatred for him returns all over again, even if he never personally did anything to hurt her.

Kol chuckles at that, his grin widening into a half-smirk. "Yes, in fact, I recall you being quite a big fan of my darling big brother Niklaus. I never understood the infatuation, personally — on both sides, for that matter. But, to each their own, I suppose."

Caroline glares at him, but her stomach twists like a knife has been jammed into it. Whether he knew what his comment would do, she doesn't know, but he definitely seems smug about it all the same. Though, it seems to have some effect on him as well, as if he hadn't quite thought it through either. 

"How are you here, Kol?" Bonnie decides to ask, choosing a much safer path, though it's obvious she's doing so through gritted teeth. Caroline would guess she's one wrong look away from uttering a spell to set him on fire.

"Oh, you mean, how am I alive and breathing when I should have been blasted into nothing when the other side collapsed?" he asks with a raise of his eyebrows, turning on her. "Where you left me to rot. Twice. Oh, yes, and that was after that little boyfriend of yours decided to kill me."

The girl's eyes widen, quickly moving back up to Kol. "Wait, what? They're the ones who killed you?"

Caroline grimaces internally just at hearing her say it. She certainly doesn't regret that it happened, even if she had no actual part in it other than seducing Klaus to distract him while the deed was supposed to be done. But still, there's a tug of guilt and shame for it, even if it was deserved. 

"Well, just this one," he says, gesturing to Bonnie. His eyes slide to Caroline. "Although you weren't much better, were you? Plus, there's the fact that you helped put a deadly spirit into Nik knowing he was going to kill himself right after, so—"

"Don't you dare," Caroline hisses, taking a step forward as she points a finger at him, the guilt suddenly dissipating. "He came to me. He asked for my help, and I told him no. I begged him not to do it, but he was so stubborn, just like he always is—"

She falters, her voice wavering. Her hand slowly lowers back to her side as she blinks away the sting in her eyes. 

"Was," she corrects through the lump in her throat. "He was stubborn. And he wouldn't take no for answer, just like always. So—" she stares back into his eyes, her anger burning back up, "— don't you dare put his death on me. He made his choice, and I respect him a hell of a lot more than I do you."

The girl in front of Kol stares at her now, her eyes still wide, but far less angry and confused. 

"You're Caroline," she says gently, understanding creeping into her voice.

A small smile tugs at the corners of her lips as Caroline shifts her eyes to her in surprise.

"I remember hearing about you a few times. A perk of being a Mikaelson through marriage; you get to know all the stories."

Bonnie's and Caroline's eyebrows shoot up, neither one able to contain their shock. Caroline gets stuck on the one word, trying to wrap her head around it, but it's practically impossible even when she catches the glint of a ring settled on his finger.

"You're married?" Bonnie asks, not even bothering to hide her disbelief. She barely glances at Kol, down to his left hand, before back to the girl. "To Kol?"

Kol shoots her a glare but the girl actually laughs. Apparently recognizing Caroline has warmed her up to them slightly. That's a first, and she can't help but wonder just what exactly Klaus said about her that would earn her a reaction like the one she's currently getting from a girl who apparently knows a lot about her.

"Believe it or not, yes," the girl answers, but her smile is kind. 

"A witch married to a Mikaelson," Bonnie says, shaking her head slowly. "I never thought I'd see the day."

"My family were once witches, thank you," Kol says pointedly, his displeasure at the conversation evident. "Now, seeing as how neither of you are wanted here, it's about time you leave our property. In fact, make that the country. I wouldn't want to have to track down my good old friend Jeremy."

Bonnie glares at him but Caroline just scoffs, her eyes narrowing once again. She can't say she's surprised at how little he's changed. Klaus hadn't, so why would Kol, even after eighteen years and marriage? 

"Maybe he's right, Care," Bonnie says.

Caroline whips around to stare at her.

"_What? _No, he—he's Kol," she emphasizes, gesturing to him. "He's not right. We came all this way, we are not just going to turn around and leave again because he tries to threaten us once. And—" she looks at Kol, "—good luck on tracking down Jeremy, no one knows where the hell he is anymore."

Kol's eyebrows raise, but he doesn't say anything. There's a flicker of something she just barely catches and really doesn't want to be a smug, knowing look that tells her maybe she shouldn't have thrown that last part in.

"We came here for answers," Bonnie says to her, shaking her head, "but we aren't going to get them here. Kyana was wrong, they can't help us. Let's just—"

"Bonnie, this is my children's lives we are talking about here," Caroline reminds her quietly, holding her gaze. "We cannot just walk away from this. We need answers, or else I am going to have to go home and look my daughters in the eyes, and tell them that I have failed them. They're counting on me to find a way."

"I know that," Bonnie says, and there's sadness to her voice, "but he isn't going to help us, Caroline. You know he won't."

"We will."

They both stop, the two words throwing them, and turn to look back at Kol. The girl was the one who spoke, and she glances between the two of them, a determined glint in her eyes.

"We'll help you," she repeats firmly, nodding along as she does. 

"Davina, darling," Kol starts trying to protest, placing a hand gently on her shoulder, "you don't ev—"

"You heard them," Davina says, turning to look up at him with raised eyebrows. "This involves kids. Whatever it is, if I can help, I'm going to. Marcel saved me from the Harvest when I was a child. It's only right."

Caroline doesn't dare blink. She's trying to quickly process the thought of Kol Mikaelson saving anyone's life that isn't his own, as well as the fact that this strange witch who is married to him is seemingly agreeing to help them. If she closes her eyes even to blink, this might turn out to be some sort of hallucination caused by the exhaustion.

Kol practically scoffs, the noise half of a huff as he shakes his head at her. He's clearly downright irritated that she's agreeing to help them when he wants nothing more than to get revenge on them. Caroline can't help but want him to say one more thing, just something that will let her remind him that he was the one in the wrong in their past and that they never did anything that he wasn't going to do to them.

And yet, he isn't arguing. He presses his lips together tightly as she raises her eyebrows another inch. A beat passes.

"Fine, but I want no part in it," he tells her. "You help them. Kyana's your friend, not mine. The little witch sold us out."

"She only gave us your address," Bonnie quickly says, aiming it at Davina. "She refused to tell us anything else."

"Yeah, we were desperate," Caroline agrees, seeing Bonnie's desire to protect Kyana and deciding to go along with her. "I begged her for information. Seriously, she didn't do anything wrong."

Davina smiles and shakes her head. "It's okay. I gave her this address for a reason," she says. "So that if anyone needed to find us, they could. I'm glad she told you where we are. Please, come inside. I'll help you with whatever it is you need in any way I can."

Kol rolls his eyes and walks away, huffing as he mutters something about marrying a bloody witch and how he should have listened to Marcel's threats. Davina pays him no attention, but simply steps aside to let Bonnie and Caroline pass through.

Caroline does hesitate for just a second before stepping inside. No barrier. She was worried the invitation inside was too vague and would knock her right back out. Plus, she just willingly put herself in a little box with a witch and a Mikaelson, and nowhere to go.

* * *

Lizzie steps into her dad's office ahead of him. Though, she supposes it's not really his anymore. Just an office until her mom is home and takes her position back. 

Her dad closes the door behind her. It's just gone past eight at night according to the clock hanging on his wall, so she highly doubts that anyone is going to be walking by. Plus there's the fact that a piece of wood isn't going to stop vampires from overhearing their conversation. She doesn't point that out. 

Her eyes are already scanning over the room nervously. She has no idea what she's hoping to find if she's entirely honest. She just knows that she has a limited amount of time to do it unless she feels like sneaking back in later. Just one little thing out of place or that seems out of the ordinary. That's all she needs.

"I just want to see how you're doing," her dad says as he walks around her, crossing over to his desk. 

He leans back against it as he watches her with a gentle look. It's the same one that she sees every time she has an "episode" and he's pulling her back from the edge of it. Part of her is glad that she hasn't felt that bubbling in her stomach or the building pressure inside her chest that just won't stop until it explodes with her skin alight and her whole body buzzing.

She forces a smile, giving a flippant shrug as she glances away from him.

"I'm perfectly fine," she tells him steadily while a little voice pokes at the back of her skull like a needle, calling her a liar. She lets her eyes sweep over a shelf to her left before returning them back to her dad. "Why do you ask?"

He falters, visibly, his lips parting slightly. He's obviously trying to be careful about how he approaches the subject, but her question has clearly thrown him. She wasn't expecting him to be the nervous one in the conversation.

"Let's start with yesterday," he says, and raises his eyebrows at her. Maybe not so nervous after all. "You said you were stressed about everything going on. Now, I know that benching you like that was maybe a bit harsh, but I was just trying to prote—"

"Oh, I'm over it," Lizzie says, dismissing it with a wave of her hand.

In truth, a tiny little part of her is still bitter that they had a chance of winning until he took her off the field for one little trick, but her mind is already too occupied to make it a priority. Besides, it was just a practice game. She can make up for it during the real one, with a little extra, but far more discreet, help from some of the vampires.

He pauses again, staring at her. His eyebrows twitch and draw closer as he frowns. She barely notices, too busy trying to sneak a glance around her. There has to be something, she's sure of it. This is where he cloaked the Grimoire and the ascendant, why not throw one more thing into the mix? Like a ripped page from the Grimoire?

"You are?" he asks carefully. He quickly brushes it off, straightening up a little. "Well...that's great. But we still have a problem. If you're so stressed out about everything that's been happening — with your mom, and the merge, and all of the Malivore stuff — and you can't control your powers, we need to figure out a solution. This could seriously hurt you, or someone else."

"Yeah, absolutely," Lizzie agrees, nodding maybe a little too enthusiastically as she stares at one of the books on the highest shelf. Does it say Gemini or is it just a horoscope book? Her dad has a habit of stocking the shelves with all sorts of weird crap, especially since he started crushing on Emma.

She realizes her own words, snapping back. She quickly turns her attention back on her dad, who's now staring at her in barely concealed disbelief, his eyebrows raised. 

"Yeah, yeah, you're absolutely right," she says, pressing it further with a little more conviction. "I'm just — you know, I'm so stressed about it all. It's all I can think about. I mean, I can barely pay attention in class right now. It's really becoming a problem, you know, and I — I certainly think, for one, that a solution would be a huge help. Both mentally and academically."

She holds her dad's stare, tilting her head slightly. It's just enough that he'll buy into it. Just dramatic but sincere enough for it to be convincing. She should know how this game works by now since she's been playing it since she was six-years-old. The longer she can spend in the office, the better chance she has of finding something. If there's something to find at all. 

He takes a moment, just looking at her, his expression surprisingly unreadable. There's only ever been a handful of times where Lizzie hasn't been able to read him when she wants to. A flicker of confusion slips past, though, and she's really hoping it's not the suspicious kind. But then it softens slightly and the relief is written all over his face instead. Her own settles in her chest like a fresh breath of air. 

"Then let's figure this out," he says, nodding as he straightens up from the desk. "I'm going to go and make a quick call to Emma. She is the guidance counsellor after all, and definitely better with this area. Maybe she can give us both some guidance. I'll be right back."

He shoots her a smile as he crosses the room, lingering for a second to place a hand gently on her arm as if to reassure her that everything's going to be just fine. A pang of guilt hits her but she tries to swallow it down. Her attempt is unsuccessful.

She watches him leave the room. He doesn't close the door. Oh well. She still has an opportunity up for grabs and despite how bad she feels about it now, she can't just let it slip through her fingers. For her own sake and for Josie's. This is for both of them.

Moving quickly, she starts with the wall to her left. She presses her hand flat against them and starts to walk, letting her eyes take in the titles of the books on the case while her hands feel for any subtle pull within or behind them.

Countless time she's been in this office. She's known it like the back of her hand since it was turned into an office in the first place. It shouldn't be too hard to find some sort of secret, whatever it may be.

A thought crosses her mind. She turns, her eyes darting over her shoulder as her hands stay against the wall. Josie didn't mention an exact location, but she did say something about behind a shelf at the very bottom. 

Lizzie quickly abandons the left wall and hurries across the room to the right. She drops to her knees, her heart pounding away in her ears. Her dad's conversations with Emma last five minutes at the very least. That's enough.

She scans across the bottom shelf of the unit. Her eyes latch onto a row of books tucked away between the panels. All titleless and all the exact same size. Except for one, right at the very end. It's taller, nearly touching the top of the shelf above it, and just a slightly darker shade than the rest.

She reaches out for it, and the second the tips of her fingers skim over the binding, it shimmers. A spark shoots up through her hand, all the way to her shoulders, the tell-tale tingling erupting underneath her skin. Jackpot. 

Throwing a wary glance at the door, she grabs the book and pulls on the string in her mind. The entire spell comes undone as she siphons the magic from it into her. A glamour spell. Now she's really wondering who the hell her dad got to do it. She's beginning to wonder if his entire office is just one big glamour spell.

The tingling subsides into a dull buzz and she pulls the book out completely. The rest of them vanish like a bubble being popped. Sitting where the fake books had been, behind the shelf, is a medium-sized box like the type that would be used to store photos. It's light yellow and patterned with little love hearts.

Her eyebrows furrow, but she's aware that she's increasingly running out of time. Her dad could walk back in at any second now, and she's not so sure she can come up with an explanation fast enough that won't turn into her confessing everything.

She pulls the box towards her and goes to remove the lid. It doesn't budge. A crease appears between her eyebrows, but she tries again. She notices the shock it sends up through her wrist this time. It clicks in her mind, and her confusion turns to curiosity once more.

Instead of attempting to pull the lid off again, she spreads her fingers and presses her palm flat against it. Something in the back of her mind tells her this is a terrible idea considering she already has a small dosage of magic in her system. She ignores it.

She sees the spell unravelling in her mind as she lets the power of it cling to the surface of her skin. Sealing spells have always been tricky, but they're much easier to undo. Their magic is pretty fun to work with as well as she's found out on a few occasions. 

A beat passes and there's a slight shift in the air. She smiles to herself at her success and quickly tries once again to remove the lid. It obliges this time. Placing it in her lap, she turns her attention to the contents of the box. 

Her eyebrows draw together at the sight of photos, hiding away various other things underneath. Her first guess appears to have been right about it being a photo box then. She turns her head slightly to get a better look at the top photo for fear that touching it while somehow set something off. Knowing her dad, she can't be too careful at this point.

It's two people. Both of them are familiar. The girl is smiling brightly at the camera, her eyes sparkling with joy as she sits there in a tacky Christmas sweater. It matches the one on the boy next to her. His smile is just as bright and wide, but it looks odd on his face. They look so alike; the shapes of their faces curve in all the same ways, and their smiles are practically identical—

"Thank you so much, Emma, really."

Lizzie's eyes widen. Her dad's voice is moving back towards the office. Panicking, she quickly pushes the lid onto the box and shoves it to the very back of the shelf. It hangs off a little, but she leaves it to grab the book she set aside and slips it back in front of it. She freezes. The spell isn't going to put itself back up. 

"Oh god," she groans quietly and tries to wrack her brain, "okay, uh, I can do this. Glamour spell, illusion spell. Uh — _commuta habitum...est verum forma."_

She's honestly not even sure if it's the right incantation. She rarely has to use glamour or illusion spells, so she's a bit rusty when it comes to them. Thankfully for her, the air around the book starts to shift. It shimmers, and within two seconds, she's staring at a row of books, all the same size, neatly stacked on the bottom shelf, and all titleless.

Satisfied, she quickly pushes herself to her feet. Her eyes dart around the room, trying to spot anything else she might have left out of place. Her dad's voice is starting to approach the room, though, and she panics. 

She hastily moves away from the unit. In her panic, she ends up behind his desk. Deciding to roll with it, she pretends to be looking out of the window that overlooks the driveway when her dad walks in. It was always one of her favourite places to look out of. It's got a great view of the tops of the trees surrounding them, and just past them lies the tops of the buildings in Mystic Falls. 

He pauses as she glances back at him. His head tilts a little, confusion flickering in his expression, but it's wiped away by a small smile. He closes the door before holding his phone up and continuing further into the room.

"So, Emma thinks she knows something that might help," he tells her. "Now, before you say anything, I promise it's not anger management. I know that's what you thought she was recommending last time, but this is different. It could be...promising."

He hesitates on the last word. Lizzie raises her eyebrows at him, turning slightly away from the window.

"Well now I'm convinced," she says. "Am I going to hate this?"

"Probably," he says without missing a beat, nodding.

Her eyes want to seek out where she now knows the box is, her skin itching with magic. She knows who was in that photo. When she was looking at it, it didn't register — there wasn't enough time. But despite only every seeing one photo of her every single day of her life, and only meeting her in person once, she knows the girl was Jo.

And it wasn't hard for her to recognize the boy. After all, he looked the exact same in the photo as he did when she saw him in the prison world with Josie just a few days ago. Looking at the two of them together, though, and how alike they were. She needs to know what else is in that box.

She takes a deep breath and smiles, looking directly at her dad. "Let's get started then."

* * *

Josie isn't sure if she's glad or not to find her bedroom empty when she gets back to it. According to the little clock she has on her set of drawers, it's close to half-past eight. Where exactly Lizzie is, she isn't sure, but she knows she'll be back before she goes to sleep.

She closes the door behind her and drops onto her bed. Her head hits the pillows with a slight bounce before she sinks right into them. She can't really tell if she's exhausted or not. Mentally, a part of her is. 

She's been working with Serena, Landon, and the rest of the witches for weeks to figure out what happened to Rafael. To no avail, of course, considering he's still stuck as a wolf. They don't even seem to be making progress, no matter what they try.

It doesn't seem to be some sort of curse, or a spell gone wrong, and the moon isn't even having some sort of celestial glitch. He's been stuck as a wolf for so long, and he can't even communicate with them. He's tried but nothing has worked. It's frustrating as all hell, and it doesn't help with everything else being piled on top of it. 

Her mind promptly switches route at the thought. That conversation with Lizzie felt like it had been coming since they discovered the prison world. Since before summer break, even. She didn't mean for it to come out like that, but it's been on her mind.

It just feels as if they aren't working together for the same thing, and she knows that maybe part of that is because she was the one who convinced Lizzie into helping when she clearly didn't want to. But she can't help but feel it's something else. Lizzie's goal seems to be different from her own, somehow, and she doesn't know why or in what way. Maybe she's just stressing herself out and overthinking things for nothing.

She pushes herself upright, running her hands over her face. She leans her elbows on her knees and props her head up in her hands. The one action alone feels like an effort. Maybe she should sleep. Her head might be clearer tomorrow, and she can talk to Lizzie better about it all. They can work it all out and go back to sorting out the mess they're in. 

Her head turns, and her gaze drifts to the wooden panel underneath her window. She chews the inside of her cheek. She can't. Even if they're not quite on the same page, she made a promise to Lizzie that they wouldn't go back to the prison world unless they were desperate. They still have time, and maybe Lizzie is onto something with the Grimoire and that missing page.

It would only have to be a few minutes, though, she reasons with herself. It's not like it would be anything more than just wandering around. How much harm could it do for her to visit the prison world briefly on her own? Lizzie clearly doesn't want to, but it could be important, and it only makes sense for her to do it herself. She's been doing what Lizzie wants her entire life. 

Making her decision, she climbs off of her bed. She slips her fingers behind the panel, inching them along until she finds the groove and gently pulls it out of place before setting the panel aside. She reaches in and curls her fingers over the ascendant with ease.

It and the Grimoire both become visible at once, the cloaking spell disabling at her touch. She pulls them both out and moves back to her bed. She sets the Grimoire down as she takes a seat, tucking a leg up underneath her. As she stares at it, she falters.

This is a terrible idea. It may only be a projection of her, but anything could happen. She was the one who was against this in the first place. But her curiosity is itching underneath her skin, and with each passing day, more and more questions and lies are being built up.

The prison world was made for a reason, and obviously by a member of the Gemini Coven. Possibly a member of her family. And there's a man trapped inside of it who may know something that could answer at least one of her questions. It seemed so much more dangerous the first time around, but now, the thought almost feels exciting.

Breathing in slowly, she nods to herself. Then she pulls back the cover of the Grimoire and flips through the pages in search of the one marked with the projection spell. As she glances over them, she does think about Lizzie's obsession with it. It's all handwritten, as all Grimoire's are, but there's something familiar about the particular curves and swirls of the handwriting as well that she just can't quite put her finger on. 

She stops at the right page and pushes down the urge to flip to the ripped edge. It's not a priority right now. Her priority is answers, and they're just not the ones that Lizzie is focused on finding. The page won't help her.

She breathes out deeply and moves the ascendant into the palms of her hands, balanced right in the middle. The tips of her fingers and the pulse at her wrist are still tingling with just enough magic leftover from trying to help with Rafael.

"_Phasmatos Tribum, Invocia Cavea, Misero Mundi," _she reads out from the Grimoire. Her heart jumps a beat, tumbling over itself to catch back up.

She forces herself to close her eyes and focus. She readjusts the ascendant in her hands. Then she repeats the incantation, taking care to pronounce each syllable like she did the first time. The magic crawls up her skin, washing over her shoulders and down her spine. 

The air shifts in her lungs and the feeling of being jerked out of place hits her square in the stomach as if all of her insides drop from her body. Before she even opens her eyes, she knows it's worked. Part of her doesn't want to look. It was a bad idea, and stupid, and reckless, and even a betrayal to Lizzie.

Sucking in a breath, she lets her eyes flutter open. It almost leaves her again in a rush. Instead of being transported into the common room of the school like last time, she's out on the driveway. She stares up at the school, her heart beating a little too loudly in her chest. 

It looks so different. She can't remember anything before the school became a school, as well as their home. That's just what it's always been to her. She wonders what else is different in the prison world, what little details she doesn't know.

"Just five minutes," she reminds herself under her breath as her eyes dart around to take in her surroundings. "Then I'll leave. Five minutes to see what I can find."

Nodding to herself, she gears herself up to move as she twists around slightly. She pauses, her eyes lingering on the car parked behind her. A frown tugs her mouth down. She knows that car. She's definitely seen it around a few times before, and she's positive that—

A crash resonates from inside the house. She jumps, startling, and whips back around to stare at it with wide eyes. Her stomach's already tied up in a tight knot. She swallows, her throat tight.

"Here goes nothing," she mutters, and forces herself to move forward up the driveway.

When she opens the front door, she's greeted with the sight of a partially destroyed version of the house. She steps in, slowly closing the door behind her as she takes in the damage all around her. She's sure she's seen it worse. Living with so many vampires, werewolves, and witches all under one roof has gotten her used to a little destruction here and there.

The paintings on the far wall of the lounge are either askew or halfway across the room. One of them seems to have managed to impale itself on the edge of the table in the middle of the room. The floor is littered with shards of glass, though by the looks of it, not from any of the windows. She spots a partially broken glass vase a few inches away from her. 

She starts walking, edging past the broken glass as pieces shine like diamonds in the sun beaming in through the windows. She has to remind herself that she can't get hurt as a projection. At least, she doesn't think she can. Best to avoid danger just in case.

"Maybe not the best place to be then," she says quietly to herself as her eyebrows raise the further she walks in.

It's surprising, but a part of her isn't as freaked out or shocked by it as she maybe should be. Lizzie's magic breakdowns usually result in the same kind of damage.

She goes to take a right down the hall only to freeze. Her eyes widen and her breath catches in her throat, her whole body tensing as she grips the ascendant that little bit tighter. There's someone else in the room with her, sitting on one of the couches. How hadn't she noticed before?

She takes a cautious step forward. They've got their head lowered, their elbows planted on their knees and their hands clasped at the back of their neck. They just sit there, unmoving, not even a twitch.

Josie questions her next move. She tilts her head slightly in an attempt to get a better look at their face. Even without being able to see, she has a feeling that they're the same person she and Lizzie saw before. The one who managed to lodge a kitchen knife into the island in a fit of frustration.

Maybe this really was a bad idea. He probably doesn't know anything anyway. He's just trapped, and probably for good reason. She honestly isn't sure if she wants to find out what exactly is is or if she would prefer not knowing.

She notices his shoulders shaking. For a brief moment, she's got the incantation to take her home running through her mind, spilling out onto the tip of her tongue in anticipation. All she's waiting for is another knife to be thrown across the room. Answers aren't worth that much.

No knives appear, though. She goes to take another step forward when she hears it. It's quiet, but the noise is unmistakable as crying. It clicks in her mind as his shoulders continue to shake discreetly, and his knuckles whiten as his grip on the back of his own neck visibly tightens.

Her stomach drops. She starts walking forward again, not stopping this time. Her steps are careful as she picks her way through the hallway and into the lounge. He doesn't look up once, doesn't falter or tense up. At least she can be sure he can't sense her. As long as she stays in control, everything will be fine. 

Standing in the middle of the lounge, she glances around, really taking it all in. By the looks of it, he isn't having much fun as a prisoner. Her mouth twists down in a deep frown as she throws him another glance. Something isn't right. She doesn't know what, but she can feel it, deep inside of her. Something's off about the whole thing.

She goes to turn away, see if maybe there's something around that will help her figure out what's going on, when the man sucks in a loud, shaking breath. It has her faltering as she turns her eyes back to him. 

He drops his hands and straightens up, his shoulders rising only to collapse. Sure enough, it's him. The exact same familiar features from a few days ago. Except now, his eyes are bloodshot and rimmed with red, tears still making tracks down his cheeks. He's paler than she thought he was as well, though maybe that was just because she was further away the first time she saw him. 

"Oh, damn," he breathes out in what almost sounds like a laugh, his mouth stretching up as his eyes twinkle with a semblance of humour that has Josie on edge.

He raises a hand halfway to his hair only to leave it hanging mid-air. He curls his fingers into his palm as he shakes his head, his eyes roaming over the lounge. The damage that he has presumably done seems to be registering with him for the first time as if he hadn't even realized he caused it in the first place.

"Oh, great. It's finally happened. I've finally snapped. They've won, and here I am, sitting in a house I just destroyed and have to live out the rest of forever in." He continues to shake his head, bringing his fist to his mouth as his smile stays in place, his voice high and shaking. "Oh, this is perfect."

Josie just watches him. It's all she really can do. Her heart is beating in her throat, and her stomach has already dropped through the floor. She tries to ignore the pang of sympathy that kicks her harshly. He's obviously there for a reason, but just watching him like this makes her want to leave.

"This wasn't how this was supposed to go," he tells himself, staring straight ahead. "I wasn't supposed to end up here. I am literally losing my mind, and — and it's never gonna end, is it? Twelve freaking years. I was supposed to be free from this."

He breathes out another chilling laugh, raking his hand through his hair. Josie's stomach tightens, the air getting caught in her lungs. She stares at him as she tries to process it. Twelve years. She was already aware that that's how long ago the prison world was created, but it hadn't really occurred to her that he was trapped the entire time. She can't imagine being a prisoner for so long.

He pushes himself to his feet, standing from the couch. His eyes are wild and all over the place, and yet, they're familiar. She can't figure it out, but it's there, in the back of her mind, and it's what's trying to tug her forward.

"They're probably all out there, laughing, living their lives," he continues, throwing a hand up in the air as he turns, beginning to pace. "And I'm here. Starving. You'd think they'd at least have left me with a better food supply. Of course, they're probably getting a kick out of knowing I'm slowly desiccating."

He stops, his eyes widening. His mouth stretches up further as he continues to shake his head.

"No, I'm rotting," he says as if it's finally dawning on him. "They've left me to rot. After everything I tried to do to help them, those ungratef—"

He groans, his hands curling into fists as he clenches his jaw. Josie presses her lips together in a thin white line, her heartbeat spiking. The words to get her out are still on the tip of her tongue, but she can't bring herself to use them quite yet, no matter how much fear course through her.

"Oh, they've really done it this time. This is it. I'm really never getting out of here, not through an escape, or even death, because god forbid I'm able to put myself out of this hell forsaken misery that they threw me into before throwing away the key!"

The realization of his own words seems to hit him. He stops. He scoffs. He lowers back onto the couch, his eyes staring straight ahead as his bottom lip gets caught between his teeth, worrying it as he nods slowly.

"This is it," he repeats quietly, the three words hanging heavily in the air.

Josie breathes out then quickly sucks the air back in. She can't do this. His eyes are shining again, the tears sitting right at the edge, and his expression — he's lost. She can tell just by looking at him. Any hope he had left in him just evaporated right in front of her eyes. 

Her stomach turns and bile rises in the back of her throat, nausea hitting her in waves. This is too much. It's a prison world, she knew what to expect, but this — she can't watch someone like this. She tears her eyes away from him, forcing down the lump in her throat, and makes for the kitchen. Maybe there's someone else, or just something that will—

A sharp tug to her wrist startles her. Her eyes widen, her heart leaping into her throat as she panics, thinking he's somehow seen her. Maybe her emotions sent her magic out of control and something went wrong with the projection spell.

It happens again and she looks down. There's nothing there. Her head suddenly feels so much heavier, making it an effort just to lift it, and she can't quite think straight as if a cloud has passed over her. Her eyes unfocus before everything dissolves right in front of her. She blinks.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lizzie hisses, standing right in front of her with the ascendant now clutched in her own hands.

It takes Josie a second to ground herself. Being pulled out of a projection is more disorienting than she was expecting. She glances over at the door to find it closed. 

"What happened to 'we won't go into the prison world again unless we're desperate and have no other options'?" Lizzie asks, her anger clear in her voice and on her face. "Or do you just have so little faith in me with this Grimoire?"

Josie rolls her eyes, composing herself, and snaps the Grimoire shut. "Of course not."

"Then what the hell were you doing? Because, I said your name about ten times and you didn't respond once. So, clearly, you were doing the whole astral projection into the prison world thing again, which you promised we weren't going to do."

"I didn't make you do it with me, did I?" Josie points out, pushing herself to her feet. 

She reaches out and takes the ascendant back from Lizzie's hands, not giving her a chance to protest. Grabbing the Grimoire, she turns away from her and back over to the window. Lizzie scoffs behind her as she kneels down beside the exposed gap in the panels.

"That is so not the point," Lizzie says. "We agreed to focus on the Grimoire. You went behind my back! And after that _conversation_ we had earlier as well? What the hell was that even about?"

"It was nothing," Josie says, pushing down the bubbling in the pit of her stomach. Her hands are still tingling, trying to get her attention. Her grip on the Grimoire tightens for a second, trying to block it out. 

She slips the Grimoire back into the space beneath her window, propping it up next to the journal before carefully placing the ascendant in next to it. Just looking at it has an image of that man flashing in the front of her mind. How defeated he seemed, accepting his fate of being a prisoner. Forever, he had said.

"Nothing?" Lizzie scoffs. "I guess lying really does run in this family."

Josie sighs but stands back up and turns to face her, finding her staring at her with her arms folded.

"I'm not lying," she says calmly, "it's really nothing. I was just...stressed about Rafael, that's all. We still haven't figured out what's going on or how to turn him back, and we're worried we may not be able to."

"Stressed? Really?" Lizzie asks, arching an eyebrow at her in disbelief. She wavers though, a glimmer of uncertainty poking through. She pushes it down. "That's the same lame excuse I just used on dad. You're not fooling me that easily, Jo."

"I'm not trying to fool you at all," Josie says, but she's eager to let the conversation drop as soon as possible. She quickly changes track, furrowing her eyebrows as she asks, "why did you need to tell dad you were stressed?"

Lizzie's eyes narrow. Suspicion flickers through her expression, and Josie knows she isn't buying into any part of it. 

"Alright, fine," she says anyway. "I had to tell him I was stressing out about everything because of my slip up during the game yesterday. I said my magic was getting out of control because of it, so now he's concerned about me becoming a danger to myself and those around me."

Josie blinks in surprise, annoyance flaring inside of her at the thought of their dad saying something like that to her. Lizzie's powers can get a little out of hand at times, but she's never actually hurt anyone, and she hasn't even had a proper episode since the one before the summer break. She barely has time to react though before Lizzie's pressing on, her tone pointed and emphasized in typical Lizzie fashion.

"So, while you've been here, having a little meditation break in a prison world with some lunatic, I've been enduring dad's attempt at helping me learn to control my siphoning with some lovely little tips from Emma. All so that I could get a better look around his office in case he had something else stashed away. Guess what? He does."

Josie brushes off her snippy comment. She steps forward, her mind already whirring. "He does? What is it?" 

Lizzie doesn't respond right away. She takes a moment, her eyes moving over Josie's face as she straightens up slightly. It's obvious she's considering whether or not to actually tell her. Part of Josie wants to roll her eyes at her for it, but another forces her to wait, because maybe she should have at least told her she was going to go into the prison world.

Lizzie makes her decision. Her arms drop back to her sides with a huff and a sigh.

"It was this box," she says, waving a hand as if able to conjure up an image of it out of thin air. "It was on that shelf you told me about, where you found the Grimoire. I think it must have been too well hidden for you to notice it."

"A box?" Josie repeats, a crease appearing between her eyebrows. She shakes her head slowly. "Why would he be hiding a box with magic?"

"It wasn't even just that it was hidden with magic," Lizzie hurries to add, now eager to divulge everything she knows to her. "It was sealed shut with it. I had to siphon the spell away to get into it while he was on the phone with Emma discussing tips on how best to keep me from accidentally cursing you or the next person who walks past me."

Josie pauses for just a second to shoot her a questioning look. Lizzie simply waves her off as if she'll tell her later. She gets a feeling that it's all she's going to be hearing about for however long their dad decides he can keep this up. They all know by now that nothing they're trying is working and that it's going to take a much different approach for them to actually see any results.

"I think I know why," Lizzie says, her tone careful and almost hesitant.

Josie silently prompts her to continue, going through the possibilities in her mind.

"Alright, I only managed to see the first thing in it since I didn't exactly have much time to look, but...it was a photo. Of Jo."

Josie's thoughts come to a halt. That wasn't what she was expecting. And it doesn't make much sense either. Her growing confusion must show on her face because Lizzie gives a half roll of her eyes but thankfully doesn't leave it there.

"It was obviously taken when she was, like, nineteen, maybe? But there was another person in the photo. Your prison bestie."

Josie's eyebrows draw together for a moment, staring at Lizzie. It clicks, and her eyes widen, her heart jumping a beat.

"The guy from the prison world?" she says in disbelief. "He knew Jo? But...how? That doesn't make any sense."

"That's not the confusing part," Lizzie says. "He didn't look any different."

Josie starts to shake her head. "What do you—"

"I _mean_, he didn't look any different," Lizzie repeats. "It took me a good few seconds to recognize Jo because of how much younger she was in it, but that guy — he looked the exact same. As if he hasn't aged since it was taken, which, surely, is absolutely ridiculo—"

"Unless he's a vampire," Josie cuts in, her words slow. "That would make sense. Right?"

Lizzie blinks, thinking it over. "I mean...yeah, I suppose."

A thought slides into Josie's mind. Her eyes widen again, all of the pieces finally slotting into place.

"That's probably why he's in the prison world," she says, lifting her eyes back up to Lizzie. "If he knew Jo when they—she—was younger, then maybe that means he was a member of the Gemini Coven as well. Just like you thought he was."

Lizzie visibly falters, her lips parting as she starts to raise her hand slightly. 

"You know, I'm not so sure about that anymore. I definitely don't want to be. But...they did look pretty alike in the photo, so maybe, but—"

"He probably got turned while he was still a part of the coven," Josie continues, barely hearing Lizzie's attempt at a protest. "Think about it: witches hated vampires. If one of their own got turned, who's to say that they wouldn't try and keep it a secret? But they couldn't have them stay in the coven, so, they created this replica world and threw him in it."

"Hold on, are you really trying to come up with a tragic backstory for the crazy guy who randomly sliced a counter in half?" Lizzie's staring at her with narrowed eyes, her incredulity clear in her voice. "Josie, he's in a prison world for god's sake."

"Yeah, but we don't even know why he's there," Josie counters, brushing over Lizzie's typical exaggeration. "For all we know, the coven wrongfully imprisoned him."

Lizzie just continues to stare at her as if she's lost her mind. Josie steps towards her.

"Lizzie, dad told us what the coven was like, remember? Who's to say that they wouldn't do something like this?"

She catches the flicker of uncertainty in Lizzie's eyes. It's brief, though, and quickly squashed as she shakes her head once again. Some sort of realization seems to hit her as her expression turns worried, bordering on mild panic.

"And how exactly do you plan on finding out if you're right?" she asks warily. "Please don't say what I think you're going to say. I know exactly what you're thinking, and I refuse. Alright? With or without me, you cannot do it. It's too dangerous."

Josie raises her eyebrows and tries to feign innocence. "You don't even know what I was going to say."

Lizzie scoffs, stepping back. "Oh, so you weren't going to suggest finding a real way into the prison world so that you can talk to Mr Stabby who may or may not be related to us?"

Josie's face falls. She spent pretty much her entire life assuming Lizzie paid very little attention to her when it came to how she felt unless they were on the same page about something. Maybe she wasn't quite right about that. Lizzie does have a tendency to observe more than people realize. Lizzie starts to turn away from her. 

"It's not a bad idea," Josie quickly tries to argue. "We could get an—"

"Answers from a living, breathing human who'll probably know more than some book will, yeah, I heard you the first thirty times you said it." Lizzie shakes her head again, looking back over at her. "No. It's too dangerous. And, besides, even if I thought we should do it, we can't. We don't know how to do anything other than the stupid projection spell."

Josie's shoulders slump. She has got a good point there. As much as she wants to do it, they wouldn't even know where to start. The Grimoire, probably, but she knows she can't suggest that. 

She sighs, but nods. "Yeah, you're right. It won't work."

"Exactly," Lizzie agrees, nodding along with her as if imparting some great wisdom. "So, let's go back to the original plan, okay? We focus on the Grimoire. There's still a missing page to find, and apparently now a box of who knows what in it. Maybe it holds the answer to all of our questions."

She lets the subject drop there, turning away from her to cross back over to her own bed. As she moves, Josie catches sight of the singed edge of her skirt. Her head tilts, her eyebrows knitting together. 

Lizzie notices, glances down, then grimaces when she realizes what she's looking at. She shakes her head, holding up a hand.

"Don't ask," she simply says, sounding as if even talking about it pains her. "The last half hour of my life has been torture. Emma is officially my least favourite teacher. Dorian has been bumped up a spot, but Uncle Tyler remains at the top."

Josie's eyebrows raise, but she doesn't press it. She reminds herself to talk to her dad, though. Or maybe talking to him would only make it worse. She'll just have to find some other way to actually get through to him when she has the time. By the looks of it, Lizzie could use a hand.

She turns back to her own bed as Lizzie goes searching for something more comfortable to sleep in. Her eyes are drawn to the loose panel. She throws Lizzie a glance over her shoulder. Focus on everything else, she reminds herself. There's no point in thinking about the prison world right now. Or the man trapped inside of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess Caroline and Bonnie have two more people on their side! Do you think they'll actually be able to help? Why would Kyana point them to Kol and Davina? And who else agrees with Lizzie and thinks that Josie wanting to visit the prison world on her own again is a really bad idea? Please, tell me what you think! ❤


	9. That's a really long story

To say that Caroline is in shock would be an understatement. Her eyes keep moving over everything, trying to process all of it, but none of it will register properly. It's a nice little house, with an upstairs and all. It's cosy. And the exact opposite of what she would expect of Kol Mikaelson. Or any Mikaelson.

From what she can see of it, most of it is painted shades of lilac and turquoise. She tries to imagine Kol painting. For some reason, it just doesn't quite work. Nor does the thought of him going furniture shopping for the plush, dark blue couch on the far end of the room, facing the TV and right by the window, or the antique wooden table she's staring at.

She traces a little spiral carving that's so deep in the wood that it's practically a dent in disbelief. Maybe sixteen years and marriage have changed him. Then again, she never really knew Kol that well to begin with. The most acquainted she ever got with him was when she acting as a decoy to seduce Klaus so that Tyler, Matt, and Stefan could kill Kol. Not exactly the best way to get to know someone, she'll admit.

But she always thought of Rebekah as the one to own a home like this, not Kol. She pictured him not really staying anywhere in one place long enough to settle down and pick out a house he likes, always on the go, soaking up the joys of just being alive and free. 

Bonnie catches her eyes when she throws another glance around the living room. She raises her eyebrows and Caroline returns the gesture, watching her mouth "what is happening?" while shooting the room a wary look. 

"Sorry about that."

They both turn to face Davina at the sound of her voice. She's walking back into the room from the kitchen, a sheepish smile on her lips. It's surprising how warm her entire presence is considering she's a witch. Then again, Caroline supposes she shouldn't be that confused. This girl did marry Kol Mikaelson, an Original vampire. It's hard to imagine she'd have normal witch prejudices. 

"It's okay," Caroline says, waving her apology off with a smile of her own. "We know Kol despises us, so we understand him telling you not to trust us. It's...a complicated history."

Davina laughs lightly at that, her eyebrows lifting with a twitch of curiosity. "Yeah, I've heard. But, don't worry. I may have married him, and I love him, but if he were the same man that did half of the things he did to you and your friends when I met him, we would not be together, I promise you that."

Kol follows her out of the kitchen but hangs back in the doorway. He eyes the two of them with disdain while a humourless smile stretches his mouth up.

"Don't be so sure of that, darling. I still have a rather strong desire to cut some arms off, and maybe snap a neck or two. Tell me, Bonnie, how would you feel about becoming a vampire?"

Davina rolls her eyes as Bonnie and Caroline both glare at him but don't take the threat as seriously as they might once have. He merely sneers back. Maybe some things don't change. She's just relieved he isn't making good on that threat, or else they would have more of a problem than they already do.

"Ignore him," Davina tells them. "He's just sulking. Personally, I'm blaming Rebekah."

Bonnie snickers and Caroline smirks, looking over at Kol. Part of her gets caught on what Davina says and she can't help but want to pry into what Kol had been saying about Rebekah and her breakup. They were never exactly friends, but she cared about her in some way, and she thinks they're alright now. Maybe she should check up on her when she gets the chance.

Kol simply glares back at her, but he doesn't say anything. He moves out of the doorway and walks back into the kitchen.

"Tell me when they leave," he calls back to Davina. "I'd rather not get too close in case I end up dead again."

"You'd think it would stop being such a big deal after you've done it three times," Davina says, and Caroline gets the strong sense that she isn't just talking about Kol. She briefly wonders what her story is, and how it is that she came to marry Kol in the first place. 

"You know, I thought that as well, but around that third time, it actually just starts to get annoying," Bonnie says, raising her shoulders in a half shrug, and Davina agrees with a bright grin. 

A small weight lifts off of Caroline's chest. They're getting along far better than Caroline was initially expecting, even before they discovered that their lead is a Mikaelson. Even with Kol's snarky comments from the kitchen, Davina seems to be more than willing to actually help. Making a friend out of her would be a welcome bonus to this whole thing, though she's not holding her breath. 

Davina gestures at the table and Caroline and Bonnie both take a seat as she does the same. 

"So," she starts, her eyes moving between the two of them, "what do you need help with? I can't promise I'll be able to give it, but I can promise I'll try. You said you need answers about something?"

Caroline shoots Bonnie a glance, her lips parting to tell her everything but hesitating for just a moment. If Bonnie still has that feeling that Caroline is well aware she was keeping from her earlier on the walk up, then maybe this won't work out. But Bonnie nods for her to go ahead, and she turns back to Davina.

"The Gemini Coven," Caroline says. "Have you heard of them?"

Davina stiffens in her seat the second those first three words leave her mouth. Recognition flashes across her face in a way that Caroline has become familiar with over the years. She'll take that as a yes. 

"Of course I have," Davina says, and she sounds like she regrets ever hearing of the name in the first place. Caroline can't say she blames her in the slightest. "They were always talked about by witches, even in New Orleans."

"So, you know about the merge?" Caroline presses, her heart jumping into her throat. "That's why Kyana pointed us here. She said she knew someone who would be able to give us the answers we need about the merge."

"We need to know if there's a way to stop it," Bonnie helpfully adds.

Davina eyes the both of them carefully, taking a moment of consideration. She shakes her head and Caroline's heart drops right back down, her hope sinking like a boat hitting an iceberg.

"I thought the Gemini Coven died out a long time ago," Davina says, confused. "Why do you need to know how to stop the merge?"

Caroline hesitates again. She's already accidentally admitted to her that it involves her kids, and she's so willing to help them if she can, she might as well have the whole truth. No matter how wary she is about giving it while Kol is in the next room and can hear every word they're saying.

She takes in a deep breath. "Because it's going to happen to my kids if we don't find a way."

Davina's eyes shift to her, widening a touch. "Your... but you're a vampire, how—"

"That's a really long story," Caroline says. "It involves a witch killing his entire family at his sister's wedding, and a coven transporting her twins into my womb via some witchy Gemini spell that, honestly, I still don't totally understand."

Davina blinks. "Wow. That's... so much more complicated than I thought this was going to be."

"It's really complicated," Bonnie agrees. She leans further forward against the table, trying to catch Davina's eyes. "But that's why we need your help. Caroline's twins just turned sixteen, but we've been searching for a way to stop the merge since they were five. We still haven't found anything. Until now."

"If you know something that can help..." Caroline pleads, shaking her head as she trails off.

Davina looks at her, holding her gaze. Her lips part and Caroline's undead heart pounds away against her ribs as if trying to reach out to her, to convince her. This is their last hope. If this doesn't work, they have to go home, and Caroline isn't sure if they're ever going to get another leade this promising, or at all.

"I don't really know that much about the Gemini Coven or the merge," Davina starts again, though her eyes drift down to the table, a light crease forming between her eyebrows. "I think I remember hearing something, but I don't..."

There's a sigh from behind her. Kol walks back out of the kitchen, his expression sour and displeased, more so than it had been when they showed up on his doorstep asking for help. 

"Unfortunately, I think I might be the one dear Kyana was pointing you to," he says to them. 

"What?" Bonnie stares at him, her eyes narrowing. "_You_? You know about the merge, and the curse, and how to stop it?"

"Don't act so surprised," he says, feigning offence at her disbelief. "May I remind you once again that I was, in fact, a witch for the first nineteen years of my life. And another one more a good few years back, but that's beside the point."

"Kol, please," Caroline says, turning her eyes on him, getting over her own shock and confusion quickly. "I know you hate us. Understandably, as well. But this isn't for me, it's for my daughters. Please."

Kol takes a moment, just staring at her with a tilt to his head. There's a thoughtful look on his face as if trying to weigh the pros and cons of the whole situation. Of course. Typical Kol. He'll let them think he's actually considering being a decent person for once in his life, and then he'll turn around and be himself. She knows how he works. It's a Mikaelson family trait.

There's a tug at the back of her mind telling her that isn't fair. They're not all like that. She just has trouble remembering why exactly she thinks that considering all of her experience with them. Even Klaus. Elijah might have been the only one who ever really kept his word, but she can't help but think there's something else.

Davina looks up at Kol, catching his eyes, and she raises her eyebrows. The look she sends him is so gentle but pleading that Caroline can't help but be surprised. She glances at Kol. His expression's already softened a touch more than it had been before. Caroline thinks she really doesn't know him at all.

"Please, Kol," Davina says. "I remember what I felt like when I had to do the Harvest. I was terrified, and I was sure I was going to die. I _did_ die. I can't even begin to imagine what these kids are feeling knowing about the merge and that only one of them might survive. We have to help them."

Bonnie and Caroline shared a hopeful look. If she can get through to him, maybe they really do have a chance.

Kol heaves another long, slow sigh, but his shoulders drop and whatever act he was hoping to hold onto seems to fall apart in front of her eyes. He turns back to Caroline and Bonnie. 

"I know a few things about the Gemini Coven and their curse," he says. "And... I suppose I could help you, seeing as how you're so desperate. We're all adults here. Sort of."

Caroline stares at him, wide-eyed, ignoring the pointed comment. "You're actually going to help us?"

"Don't make me change my mind," he says, but then gives another roll of his eyes. "Just give me a minute. It'll be easier to explain, and the sooner I give you what you want and you leave, the better."

He crosses the room, heading out into the hallway and up the set of stairs that turn a corner halfway up then disappear out of sight. Caroline attempts to keep calm, but her heartbeat seems to be getting a different memo. For once, she doesn't have that feeling; every other time they've followed a lead, she's had this hopeless, defeated sense of dread deep inside of her that usually multiplied when they hit a dead-end. 

But this time it's different. Her hope has reignited, no matter how much she tells herself there's a chance of this all going wrong. Even though she doesn't _trust_ Kol, and she doesn't know Davina, something about being directed to them has her believing that they could actually be the ones who will be able to help her. 

Kol and Davina both obviously know something, and as much as she loves to not give Kol the benefit of the doubt, he wouldn't spend two seconds humouring them while they're still in his home if he couldn't actually help. If that were the case, they would have had the door slammed in their face with another snarky threat of him finally getting his revenge on them after all these years.

Buzzing cuts through the quiet that was beginning to settle in wait of Kol's return. Caroline looks over at Bonnie as she pulls her phone out of her bag then looks up at her sheepishly.

"It's Enzo," she explains quickly as if feeling a need to. 

Caroline just smiles and nods for her to go ahead. Bonnie shoots Davina a hurried apology as she stands from her seat and walks out into the hallway to take the call. Caroline stares after her, wondering what it could be for. Probably just to check up on her. Enzo and Damon both do it at least twice a week, if not very nearly every day. It's sweet, Caroline thinks.

"So," Davina starts, drawing her attention to her as she smiles gently and raises her eyebrows, "tell me about your girls. They just turned sixteen?"

Caroline sucks in a breath but nods, managing to smile back at her. It almost feels sad, just remembering that they are now officially sixteen. And she missed it. The big birthday that she made a big deal of when it was her own, and always imagined making a big deal of when her it was her kids.

"Yeah, March 15th," she says, trying not to think about it too much. "I... couldn't be there for it, but their dad told me they had an eventful time. Lizzie came to spend a few weeks with me for the summer break, and she showed me some pictures from it, and I think it's exactly what every person would want for their sweet sixteenth, so."

"Lizzie is such a nice name," Davina says kindly. 

"She's named after my mom," Caroline tells her, her heart aching but her smile a little more sincere. "Elizabeth. Josie's named after their biological mom; Josette. Their father named them, but it wouldn't have felt right to go with anything else anyway."

Her smile slips now, and her feelings sink inside of her as the thoughts return, unable to keep them out. She looks down at the table, focusing her eyes on the little carvings all across the wooden, making up unseeable patterns.

"That's one of the reasons this is so hard," she admits quietly, shaking her head. She shouldn't when she's just met this woman, but something inside of her is telling her she trusts her, even if he has no idea why. "If their biological mom was here, she would be able to be there for them. She was part of the same coven, she could explain it to them so much better than I can, and maybe — I don't know, maybe things would be easier for them."

"Hey, no," Davina makes her look back up at her, her hand stretching across the table and finding hers. "That's not fair on you. You are out here, halfway across the world from your family, looking for a way to save your kids. You're doing everything you can to make things easier for them in the long run. They'll get through this."

Her heartbeat doesn't jump once. She doesn't know a thing about her except what she's possibly heard through stories of Klaus, and yet, she seems to really believe that. Caroline can't help but wonder if maybe they have met before and she doesn't remember. Her words bring far too much comfort to her for a complete stranger.

But putting the matter aside, Caroline knows she's right. Deep down, she really does. It's hard to let herself believe it, though. Are they really better off with her as their mom? She's been trying her very best with them since the moment that she found out she was pregnant, but what if it just hasn't been enough?

She can't help thinking about Jo. Maybe she knew things about the Gemini Coven that would have been able to help them. Maybe they would never have even been in this situation had Jo been alive to raise them. 

But Jo was still stuck, she reminds herself. That's why Liv and Luke were still going to be forced to merge, because there was no way around it. Even they didn't know of any loopholes, and she really doesn't know if Jo would have been able to figure something out before now. Things would probably have been exactly the same. It doesn't make the guilt and not knowing any easier.

"I'm sure they understand everything you're doing for them," Davina adds, nodding slowly. She smiles, pulling her hand back. "I did when it was Marcel trying to protect me. It didn't always feel like that's what he was doing, but in the end, I always knew that he cared about and loved me. He did everything he could for me. He saved my life. Your kids are lucky to have you in their life, doing the exact same thing for them. They'll understand that it's because you love them more than anything in this world."

"It just feels like I'm not really a part of their life anymore," Caroline says with that same sad smile. She swallows and blinks back the stinging in her eyes, glancing away as she inhales deeply. "But hopefully I can get back to them soon enough."

Davina nods, her expression one of sympathy and understanding on a level that she can't even begin to comprehend. As if sensing a need for a subject change, Kol returns. He throws a confused, and mildly wary look, over his shoulder as he walks back into the living room.

"Bloody hell, now I remember why I didn't want to get on her wrong side before the whole killing me thing," he says, looking over at Caroline as he joins them. "Your little witch is rather upset. Apparently that means even my presence is enough to earn me a look of death."

Caroline frowns as he moves around to Davina's other side and pulls out a chair. She glances back out into the hallway, but Bonnie's got her back turned to her, a hand in her hair and the other still holding her phone to her ear. For just a moment, she goes to focus her hearing.

If it's Enzo, it could be something important, and for all she knows, something's gone wrong back home. It wouldn't be a first for Mystic Falls, and Enzo or Damon are far more likely to call either of them before Alaric would. And she knows Bonnie. She doesn't get upset over small things. 

The thud of Kol putting the book he's holding on the table snaps her back, and she tears her worried gaze away. She eyes the book, and her eyebrows lift slightly. It's bigger than half of the ones they have back home in the library and looks nearly as dusty.

"That's what's going to tell us how to stop the merge?" she asks with a hint of doubt and confusion, glancing back up at him.

Kol sits down and nods. Davina's eyes dart from the book to him with an almost equal level of confusion as her own, but hers doesn't seem to be out of uncertainty. She's not so sure that's a good sign.

"It's in that?" Davina asks him, and she sounds almost alarmed. Definitely not inspiring confidence and hopefulness.

"What exactly _is_ that?" Caroline asks, leaning forward slightly as she looks between them. 

Her eyes dart back down to it and she quickly takes in the lack of a title and how old it seems. The binding is worn and made of dark brown leather, and the edges of the pages look dog-eared and well-read. On the front, she notices, is a sigil. It isn't familiar, though, with its intricate little details. It almost looks like a flower of some sort, and she now thinks that she vaguely recalls seeing it somewhere.

"Never mind, I think I can take a guess," she says, knowing she would recognize the specific type of book with just a glance. If she couldn't, she would be questioning her position in her very own school and as Bonnie's best friend.

"It's a Grimoire," Kol confirms anyway. He waves a hand at it as he leans his arm on the table. "A very old one. And, as it just so happens, the key to all of your problems by the sounds of it. Maybe not your insecurities and fractured familial relationships, but certainly the part about the merge."

Caroline glares at him, but it's halfhearted, and she doesn't manage to hold it for longer than a second. Any annoyance she might have about him so blatantly listening into her conversation passes her by without a second thought. Her attention's too caught by the Grimoire, the possibility that what she's looking for is now sitting right in front of her, just a few inches away from her.

"Kol, are you sure?" Davina asks him, and there's that worried tone again. 

"Why am I getting a feeling that this Grimoire being the answer isn't a good thing?" Caroline asks, her stomach twisting slightly at the thought, but she's already sure that it won't matter either way. No matter what comes along with it, or what price she may have to pay for whatever black magic it might require, it will be worth it. 

"Because it's probably not," Davina tells her, glancing at her.

"Oh, well, that's reassuring."

Kol ignores her and carefully opens the cover. He turns the Grimoire around to face Caroline despite his obvious reluctance to do so, keeping a hand close to the edge of it as if she would ever somehow be able to grab it before he could.

She frowns at him, but he waves his other hand at the Grimoire for her to just read. That sense of dread and defeat is slowly starting to creep back across her skin, but she does her best to ignore it as she looks down at the Grimoire. She reads over the first few lines carefully. Or tries to, anyway.

"Like I said, very old." Kol looks at her as she shoots him another confused look. "Those first three hundred or so pages were written over a thousand years ago. Luckily, I know exactly what every one of them says."

"A thousand years ago?" Caroline repeats incredulously. "The Gemini Coven has been cursed for over a thousand years?"

"Seems like it," Kol says with a lazy shrug. 

"Okay, sure," she says slowly, "that sort of explains why you might have it, but..._why_ do you have it?"

Kol glances at Davina and they share a look that's almost unreadable to Caroline. She gets the basic gist of it though. Her stomach turns, and her blood is as cold as it was when she swiped it from the nearby hospital that morning. She's starting to regret that now as it sloshes and churns inside of her.

Her eyes flick back to the Grimoire, darting over the unknown language, barely comprehending any of it. They're far more like runes than they are words. She stops as one of them catches her attention. She backtracks and tries to read over it again. The familiarity hits her like a blow to the chest.

"Hold on," she says as Kol opens his mouth to answer her. She points to the word, looking back up at him, wide-eyed. "I know that word. I remember seeing it. It — it was... uh, it was years ago, when you and all of your siblings were in town."

Kol's face twists with displeasure at the memory being drudged back up, even without all of the details. Caroline clenches her jaw in frustration as she looks back down at the word. It's there, right at the front of her mind, but she just can't seem to—

"Oh my god." Her shoulders drop, and she closes her eyes. "It was on that wall in the tunnels, where Stefan and Bonnie hid your mom from Klaus. It says Mikael."

When she looks at Kol he doesn't tell her she's wrong, only confirming that she's right. She sinks. Part of her had been hoping he would make some snarky remark about her needing to be better at translating and then tell her what it so obviously says.

"This is your mother's Grimoire, isn't it?" she asks, despite every fibre of her being not wanting to hear the answer.

She has had enough of Esther Mikaelson in her lifetime, even if she never personally dealt with her. It was hard enough trying to get Tyler to stop following Klaus around like a loyal puppy while also dealing with Klaus' advances toward her. Esther was just another Mikaelson-shaped thorn in her side at the time, and she didn't have the time to deal with her. She still doesn't.

To her relief, Kol makes a face. "Not quite."

He leans forward as her eyebrows furrow. His head tilts as he looks down at the Grimoire, scanning the page and impressively deciphering it from his angle. Then he pokes a finger onto it, just above a certain word written out in the nordic language. 

"See that word?"

She nods, and he looks back up at her.

"That says Dahlia," he explains, and taps the page.

There's a look on his face that she thinks she's seen before maybe once, all those years ago. It's pure hatred, the burning anger reflected in his eyes. It was most likely aimed at her, or maybe Bonnie, or just one of them in general, but it flares in his eyes now at just the mention of this woman's name.

"Dear old auntie. This was her Grimoire."

Caroline's heart stops. It feels as if everything inside of her just short-circuits at the exact same time as the world decides to come crumbling down around her with three simple little words. It's not simple. It's the complete opposite of that. She thought that she would be relieved as long as it was anyone but Esther's, but it's so much worse.

"Sorry, I thought it was gonna be a quick call, but Enzo—"

Perfectly on cue as always, Bonnie chooses that moment to walk back in and join them. She pauses as Caroline turns her head to look up at her, still barely functioning from the shock. Her sentence is left hanging as she glances between the three of them.

"What did I miss?" 

"Uh, well," Caroline wets her lips, managing to pull herself out of it for the most part, "some Mikaelson family history, for one. Turns out, the family tree has a few more branches to it."

* * *

"Wait, I don't understand," Bonnie says, holding up a hand to stop Kol mid-sentence as she stares at him with narrowed eyes. "Your aunt seriously thought that she was the only one who could help your sister?"

Kol nods. "As I said: she was out of her bloody mind. The woman forced Freya into that binding spell just to have some sort of immortality. I'm just relieved that dear Faye was born after we rid the world of Dahlia. I dread to think what she would have done had she been around for any birth of a firstborn Mikaelson."

Bonnie makes a face, agreeing. Caroline hates to even think about what Freya must have gone through, getting only one year of freedom to live her life every century. The story sounds familiar to her in some way, and she wonders if she heard it from Klaus at any point. 

"But you said she's dead now," Caroline says, emphasizing as she raises her eyebrows. "So, how did you end up with her Grimoire? And how does it help us?"

"Freya let me have it after our mother defeated Dahlia," Kol says. "She didn't want the thing around, which is entirely understandable. And I was curious. I've only been able to get my hands on one of our mother's, so this was the next best thing."

"Or even better," Davina says. She gestures with her head to the Grimoire, still laid out in front of them in the middle of the table. "Dahlia was more powerful than any witch. Even Esther."

Bonnie tilts her head, making a doubtful noise. "I've heard that before, and let's just say, the woman turned out to be pretty crazy as well. And apparently my ancestor, but I'm still choosing to ignore that part."

Kol's eyebrows furrow and he stares at her questioningly, his curiosity obviously piqued. Bonnie ignores him, but Caroline is sure that, if given the opportunity, he'll press her for more information about Qetsiyah. She can only imagine the amusement he would get out of that story after the whole Silas debacle.

"How exactly is she involved with the Gemini Coven?" Caroline asks him.

Kol tears his eyes away from Bonnie to glance at her before looking down at the Grimoire. "That's where it gets complicated."

"Like it wasn't already?"

"It gets worse," he insists, and turns the Grimoire back to face him. He starts flicking through the pages as he goes on, "see, it turns out, Dahlia didn't want to just stop with our family. Obviously, we were one of the most powerful witch bloodlines at the time, but then our mother went and turned us into vampires."

Bonnie nods slowly. "Which meant no more firstborns from your family's bloodline. Dahlia wouldn't be able to take anyone else from your family."

"Exactly," Kol agrees without looking up, "but even with Freya's power, Dahlia's own was limited. She wanted to be truly immortal, like us, but through nature rather than turning herself into some _monster_."

His eyes flick up to Caroline briefly, his hands pausing. She understands the look, even if it catches her by surprise. Understanding passes between them as the only two in the room who have been called monsters, even by the people they love, for something they certainly never asked for. She swallows, and he shifts his attention back to the Grimoire.

"This was the spell she used to try and accomplish her own twisted version of immortality and keep my sister hostage for hundreds of years," he says.

He turns the Grimoire back to let the two of them see despite them not actually being able to read it. Caroline manages to get the general gist of it, though, a few of the symbols sticking out to her. Bonnie seems to have a better grasp on the spell as a whole.

"Poor Freya..." Caroline can't help but say, shaking her head. Taken from her family, held hostage by her own aunt, and refused a real life. "I can't even imagine what that must have felt like."

"She's a Mikaleson," Kol says, and his features soften just the tiniest bit for a glimpse of a moment. "She can survive anything. Even our crazy aunt."

Davina smiles at him, and Caroline can't help a small one of her own forming on her lips. His words leave an empty, sinking in her stomach though. Mikaelsons can survive anything. She wishes that were true. Something tells her Kol's thinking the same thing by the way his eyes unfocus for a moment, seeming to glaze over, lost in a thought. Then he's snapping back.

"Which is why aunt Dahlia decided she needed a backup plan." He pulls the Grimoire back towards him as he recommences his search through the pages. "Freya started to rebel and sneak off, wanting a life of her own, so, knowing that there were no more Mikaelsons she could get her hands on, she went after other bloodlines as a safety net."

"Wait, Dahlia took firstborns from other families?" Bonnie asks in disbelief. 

"Not quite," Kol says, "because no one would willingly give up their children, and all of them were far more protected than my mother had been at the time. But that didn't mean she didn't try."

"But why?" Caroline presses, shaking her head as her eyebrow furrow. "That wouldn't make any sense. The only reason she took Freya was because your mom had made a deal with her, right? So, why try and take firstborn kids from other families?"

"She believed that all firstborns were the most powerful witches in their family," Kol explains. "Not just ours. Though, they maybe didn't have quite the same power. But still, she seemed to believe that no matter the bloodline, the firstborn was far too powerful to be able to control it. She tried to tell them that she was the only one who could help them."

Caroline scoffs, shaking her head again. She's more than glad that Dahlia was one branch of the Mikaelson family tree that she didn't meet. The thought of her trying to take Josie and Lizzie makes her sick to her stomach. Just like Seline and Cade tried. Though, she supposes their intentions were different, but not by enough.

"And this is what brings us to her connection with the Gemini Coven."

She straightens up in her seat, her eyes widening a little as he flips the Grimoire back around and points to the page. 

"Turns out, they weren't always known as that," he says. "A few hundred or so years ago, they were just another coven made up of a few different bloodlines. But, they were still powerful and well-known to any witch. Including Dahlia."

Caroline glances up at him, then over at Bonnie, their eyes meeting for a brief moment as they exchange a worried look. They've always known that anything involving the Gemini Coven wasn't going to be good, and that getting their answers and a solution wasn't going to come without problems. This is just a little more than either one of them had been expecting.

Kol drags their attention back to him by tapping at the page with a finger. He raises his eyebrows, looking between them.

"See this here? This is a curse," he tells them, and judging by the way he says it, Caroline can guess which one. "The one that she put on the coven when they refused to give up their firstborns."

"So, Dahlia's the reason the merge exists?" Bonnie asks carefully, a crease between her eyebrows.

"Yes," Kol confirms with a nod. "See, she was so convinced that every firstborn witch would have an uncontrollable amount of power, that when they refused to let her take them, she decided to give them some sort of punishment that, in her eyes, would also force them to give in."

"But how would the merge help her?" Caroline questions in confusion.

"It didn't," Kol says, "but she thought it would. I have no clue how the bloody hell she came up with this curse, but she was somehow able to make it so that twins ran in their families even more so than they already did. Every bloodline in the coven was cursed to have a set of twins every decade or so. It's a complete manipulation of magic and nature itself, even after everything she claimed about wanting to be immortal but not a monster."

Caroline can only stare at the page in front of her, unable to fully decipher the nordic runes and words. Bonnie glances her, then back down at the Grimoire.

"Okay, so she cursed the coven to have twins," Bonnie says slowly, lifting her eyes back to Kol, "how does any of this fit into her plan if she was hoping to convince them to hand over their firstborns to her?"

"Well, for one, twins meant two firstborns," Kol points out. 

Bonnie's expression shifts, the understanding becoming clear. Caroline just listens, watching him explain. Her stomach's swaying back and forth, and she's an inch away from chewing at her nail to stop the nausea. A hand gently touches her arm as if sensing it. She glances at Davina and is met with a kind, comforting look. It forces herself to at least inhale, trying to steady her heartbeat. 

"Which she would have thought meant it would make them more willing to give one of them up," Bonnie says, nodding.

"Precisely," Kol agrees, "and then there's the merge. Her curse didn't only force them to have a set of twins every now and then, it also forced them to perform a binding spell on them to merge them into one. Now, I can't — and don't want to — even begin to pretend I understand Dahlia's way of thinking."

"She probably thought that the power of two firstborns in one body would make her immortality spell even more powerful," Bonnie continues for him.

She's clearly taken the words right out of his mouth by the way he just stares at her for a second before nodding in agreement once again. He quickly turns back to the Grimore, sparing Caroline a glance despite it being obvious he's mainly having the conversation with Bonnie at this point.

"Which is bloody ridiculous," he says, much to Bonnie's agreement this time. "But she was convinced. So, she put the curse of the merge on them and used some sort of binding spell that's rather simple, actually. That way, it made it so that if they didn't merge their sets of twins that were supposed to only crop up once in a lifetime — literally — then the entire coven would die. Why she picked their twenty-second birthday is beyond me, crazy old witch probably thought that that was when they grew to their most powerful or uncontrollable."

"I think the two sitting in this room right now are a testament to how wrong she was," Davina pipes up, shooting Bonnie a playful smile that she easily returns, both with a glimmer in their eyes. "Otherwise Mystic Falls would probably be destroyed by now, and every vampire in New Orleans would already be dead. Yes, that includes you."

Kol scoffs, having raised his eyebrows at her. The corners of his mouth tug upwards slightly, though, and he doesn't try and deny it. Even with her mind racing, Caroline silently agrees, throwing Bonnie a grateful look that she isn't sure is caught at all. She turns back.

"So," Caroline's eyebrows furrow, her stomach still swaying like a ship on angry waters, and honestly, that's exactly how she feels right now, "Dahlia cursed an entire coven just because she wanted to be immortal? Why not just go and find a different bloodline?"

"She did try," Kol says, and raises a shoulder in a half shrug. "It's just that none of them were quite as powerful as the Gemini Coven. And most of the one she would have classified as powerful, she couldn't even find. Witches can sense when they're being sought out, and even when they can't, powerful bloodlines tend to have all sorts of spells shielding them. She would have been lucky to even manage to get in the same country as them. This particular coven just happened to not be as lucky."

"I still don't get how she did it, though," Bonnie says, shaking her head at the Grimoire. "I mean, a curse like that? Is it dark magic? Like, expression? Or was she really just that powerful?"

Kol eyes her, his expression turning almost wary. He visibly hesitates to answer her, but then turns the page.

"Actually, she had some help from another witch," he tells her, then pauses, staring at her. "A Bennett."

Caroline's head snaps up. She looks from him to Bonnie, her lips parting. Bonnie's eyes widen, and Caroline hears her breath catch in her throat, and she can imagine it closing up, her chest tightening at the revelation.

"A Bennett helped her curse the coven?" Bonnie says, the shock written all over her face and in her voice as she leans forward. "Was it Ayana? She was friends with Esther, surely she wouldn't have helped Dahlia."

Kol shakes his head. "I don't know which Bennett. Dahlia just wrote that she got help from a Bennett witch."

Bonnie takes a moment as Caroline watches her. She slumps into the chair, staring unfocused at the Grimoire. Caroline knows that look. She's seen it way too many times on her face throughout the years she's known her, especially lately. Kol beats her to the small comfort she was going to attempt to give her, her hand barely shifting on top of the table.

"Before you start getting all guilt-ridden and blaming yourself for things your ancestors did, which, would be pointless, by the way," Kol motions to the Grimoire, "whichever Bennett it was was forced by Dahlia to help her. In fact—"

Bonnie's face lights up as he flips another page, lifting his head a little further to read it better upside down.

"—by the sounds of it, that same Bennett ended up betraying Dahlia. Apparently they were good friends of the Gemini Coven from years before, and they tried to help them." He looks up at Bonnie, then at Caroline. "That actually explains a lot."

They both ignore the comment, even as harmless as it was. Bonnie looks at Caroline, and her relief shows in her small smile that Caroline returns. She's glad to have Bonnie by her side for this.

"Now, the reason that Dahlia used one of your ancestors, a Bennett witch, to help her," Kol continues, drawing their focus back to him as he moves a finger along a string of nordic letters, "was because she needed something to bind the curse. Without some sort of safeguard, they could easily have broken it themselves. This way, it would be bound by the blood of another bloodline, so it would be nearly impossible for them to break it."

"Nearly?" Caroline prompts, lifting her eyebrows in hope.

Kol looks up at her, meeting her eyes. "There's always a loophole in magic, no matter how much you try and prevent it. Even freakishly old cursed spirits have loopholes."

Caroline falters, holding his gaze. She knows exactly what he's talking about. A part of her expects to see that same seething anger and loathing in his eyes that she did when he remarked on her helping Klaus, but it's gone. It's replaced with understanding and something too close to sadness for a Mikaelson.

He drops his eyes back down to the Grimoire. "In this case, Dahlia created the loophole herself," he says, "just in case the coven ever wanted to take her up on her offer, as a sort of... gesture of goodwill, I guess."

"I'm not sure that's the word I'd use to describe it," Bonnie says.

"But, just in case they didn't, she threw in a little added bonus, the cherry on top."

Bonnie nods to herself. "That's more like it."

"By the sounds of it, she was worried that forcing them to have their children pretty much murder one another in a battle for leader of the coven wasn't going to be enough to convince them," he says, his usual level of sarcasm finally returning to his voice. "So, she thought up a creative little bonus. Not all of the twins would be born with powers of their own."

Caroline's breath catches in her throat. Her heart stops as her eyes widen, only for it to start back up in a rush and fill her head with the noise of it working to keep her alive. The irony. 

Bonnie looks at her, her shock taking a backseat beside her visible worry. All Caroline can think about is Lizzie and Josie. She presses her lips together. Swallowing down the lump that's formed in her throat, she forces herself to push the words out.

"She created siphoners?" she asks, ignoring the slight shake in her voice. "As part of the curse?"

Kol's eyes slip between the two of them, his confusion flickering in them, but he nods.

The thought stabs her like a stake in her chest. Their powers were given to them as a curse, to ruin their lives. All done out of revenge for Dahlia not getting what she wanted. She's really starting to understand why everyone in Dahlia's family despised her, even her own sister. 

"It was a safety net, of sorts," Kol continues, obviously sensing the tension. "That way, it would make it harder for the coven. If one of the twins were born without their own powers and had to rely on outside sources of magic, the merge wouldn't work properly. The other would be killed, no matter how much stronger they may have been. She probably assumed that there was no way the coven would want someone who had to have a constant source of magic around to be their leader, ensuring that they would give in and hand over the firstborn _with_ magic."

"What if they had given her the siphoner?" Davina asks, her eyebrows furrowing. "Wouldn't that have ruined her plan?"

"Then the coven would have died unless they had another set of twins, but the curse made the chances of that unlikely," Kol explains. "They would either have had to have agreed with Dahlia so that she would undo the curse, or gone through with the merge anyway, which, clearly they never did considering the number of heretics that were roaming around for a brief period of time."

"What would they have done if both twins had been born without magic?" Caroline asks quietly. 

She lifts her eyes to look at Kol, her stomach twisting and turning painfully as she goes over the possibilities in her own head. Kol pauses, his lips parting as his eyebrows raise an inch or two.

"Uh, well..." He shakes his head. "I suppose they would have tried to have another set of twins. Or, worst case, they would have attempted the merge anyway by having the both of them siphon magic from something else in advance. It wouldn't exactly work the same, and it would be riskier. There would always be the possibility of them accidentally killing each other before it's done, and the results might not have been the same."

Caroline's heart clenches. She nods slowly. A part of her, even after all these years, has never actually known what exactly would happen when the merge finally came around. How it would work, if it would at all. She somehow thinks it's now worse knowing the possibilities.

"You said there's a loophole," Bonnie quickly says to Kol. "A way to undo the curse. What is it?"

Caroline sits up a little straighter, staring at him expectantly as she latches onto the sliver of hope still hanging in the air. This is it. This is their last shot; after everything he's just told them, if he can't help them, then no one can. 

"Complicated as hell, for one," Kol says, but he turns the Grimoire back to face him, his eyes scanning over the page. "Alright, so, apparently there's a list of three main ingredients you're going to need if you want to even think about going through with undoing a centuries-old curse."

"What are they?" Caroline presses.

"Well, one of them's sitting at this table." 

He looks directly at Bonnie. Her eyes widen again, confused, but the realization seems to quickly set in. It clicks in Caroline's mind right away, grabbing at the obvious.

"A Bennett witch's blood was used to bind the spell, so it's needed to undo it," Kol adds, and Bonnie nods.

One thing easily checked off the list. Caroline can't help but think that can't bode well for the other two things. When one part of a spell is easy, the rest of it is typically impossible. Even so, she just leans forward slightly as she waits for him to continue.

Her stomach is twisting itself up in anticipation. It hadn't felt real before — the possibility of actually being able to stop the merge altogether was more like a dream in her head, one that she has been chasing for ten years. But here she is, and she's finally so close.

"The second is a siphoner," he says, and lifts his eyes to look at Caroline. "I'm guessing you have one or two of those."

Caroline's heart beats faster under her ribs as she nods, maybe just a touch too vigorously. She can't even bring herself to care that Kol put the pieces together on his own. She glances at Bonnie, a look passing between them. Two out of three.

"The third is a little more complicated," Kol says, and Caroline's heart drops. He sighs, looking at them. "You need the blood of a Mikaelson. Now, while I would be willing to temporarily offer myself up for a limited time only, I'm getting the feeling it means blood that hasn't been ingested from another person or a hospital bag. Which means, unfortunately, I don't count, which seems to be a recurring theme in my life generally."

"Does that disqualify Mikaelson through marriage as well?" Davina asks, raising her eyebrows hopefully. 

Kol makes a face and nods. "I don't think we should take any chances when it comes to something like this."

Caroline's head is spinning, completely passing over Kol's use of the word _we_. They only need three things to undo this whole nightmare, and two of them are easy enough. She can't let this slip through her fingers because of one little thing. Something sparks in the back of her mind, pulling up thoughts of home and the school to the front of her mind.

"Okay, okay," she says slowly, her eyes wide, "that shouldn't be hard. We need blood from a Mikaelson who isn't a vampire. Rebekah hasn't taken the cure from Damon yet, so, that leaves two options available."

"I think you mean one," Bonnie says gently.

Caroline goes to protest, her lips parting, only for her to falter before the words make it past. She frowns. One Mikaelson. She tries to name the second that she must have thought of when the number slipped out without a second thought, but she comes up blank. She brushes it off.

Bonnie looks over at Kol. "Freya's not a vampire, and she's a rightful Mikaelson through blood."

"And that's where we hit a snag," Kol says. "Freya isn't exactly the cooperating type. Nor does she like giving her address out, especially now that she's moved and has a family of her own, and especially to strangers."

"I'm sure you can understand," Davina says. 

Caroline can, and so can Bonnie. Raising a family far away from it all would be the safest way. Caroline can't help but think that maybe they both should have done the same thing instead of deciding to stay in their home town where everything bad in their lives has happened.

"So, neither of you knows where we would be able to find her?" Bonnie asks, her hope quickly starting to dissolve.

Kol hesitates. "I said she doesn't like giving it out, but I may know where she lives," he admits.

Caroline's eyes widen, and that little spark that had been sizzling out bursts back to life inside of her. 

"Okay, I completely understand privacy and wanting to protect your sister," she quickly says to him, "and I would never, ever ask you to betray her trust if you know where she is and she doesn't want anyone else to, but, Kol, this—"

"Relax," Kol hastily cuts her off, his own eyes wide at her rush of words.

He has his hands held up in front of him, but slowly lowers them as she stops talking, her lips still parted. 

"I'm not going to tell you the address," he says slowly, and shoots her a look when she goes to speak again. She presses her lips together. "Mainly because Vincent and Keelin have already threatened me if I do. However, they have said that Davina and I are welcome to visit. So, I suppose it would be alright if I brought you two along."

"Really?" Caroline blurts out. "You'd help us find her?"

"Well, I'm already helping you, I might as well do this as well," he says in an attempt to dismiss even the implication of him wanting to help them any further in any possible way.

Bonnie smiles at him gratefully, and Caroline's practically beaming, though more to herself than at him. She presses a hand to her chest, breathing out. Her heartbeat is steadying now, though it still picks up a few extra beats on the way.

"Out of curiosity, is it getting there going to involve a plane?" Bonnie asks. 

Kol raises an eyebrow at her but answers all the same. "Yes."

Bonnie nods, letting it drop there. All Caroline can think about is how close they are. They're practically inches away from all of this finally being over, the tips of her fingers just barely grazing it. Another flight. One more day, maybe two. Her stomach swoops and is still tied in knots, but it all feels worth it. 

"When do we leave?" Davina asks, looking around at the three of them.

"Tonight," Kol answers without missing a beat. He motions toward Bonnie and Caroline. "They just got here, I presume. Might as well do it before the jetlag can fully kick in. It'll probably be better if you're both awake and actually of sound mind."

Caroline and Bonnie both agree, though Caroline doesn't think that jetlag has been a real problem for them for a few years now. The heaviness behind her eyes and in her head obviously disagrees. 

"Tonight it is then," she says, the anticipation settling inside of her alongside that flame of hope that's growing stronger by the second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY, SOME ANSWERS!! Please, tell me what you think about this because I have been so excited about this particular part for a while now. Of course it all leads back to the Mikaelsons. When doesn't it? Don't worry, Lizzie and Josie will return in the next chapter, but I just thought this big reveal deserved a chapter of its own. Again, I would love to hear all of your thoughts and theories! ❤


	10. The universe seems to be doing us a favour

"Have you managed to figure out if it's some sort spell that's been put on him yet?" MG asks, swinging his legs off the side of the dock as he turns his head to look at them.

Josie shakes her head as Landon sighs, both of them throwing a glance behind them at where Rafael's laying down just a little away from him. He's barely moved in the last half-hour; Josie figures it isn't much fun being stuck as a wolf with no idea how to turn back and no way to communicate.

"No," Landon answers, the edge of his tone bitter. "And we've tried everything. Well, I mean, Josie and pretty much every single witch in the school has. It doesn't seem to be a spell."

"If it were, we would have figured out by now," Josie agrees. "But that just makes it even more confusing."

"Yeah, if it's not a spell, then what happened to him?" MG says, looking over at Rafael as well now. He just stares back, not even bothering to try and do anything else. At this point, they know it isn't going to help.

"Whatever it is, there has to be a way to undo it," Josie says in an attempt to sound reassuring and hopeful. There doesn't seem to be a lot of hope around them lately. "I'll have another talk with Professor Lockwood. He's a werewolf, so maybe he knows something that might be able to help."

"Something tells me this isn't just some full moon problem," MG says, shaking his head, but he lets it drop there. 

He's right. Josie knows he's right, and so does everyone else. But she's sure there has to be a way to fix Rafael. She refuses to let him be stuck as a wolf for the rest of his life, and she's already made a promise to Landon to help him. Even if it means one more thing to worry about.

Maybe she should designate certain times of the day for worrying about certain things. Things might get done faster, and maybe she'll actually get more than three hours of sleep. MG catches her yawning, perfectly on cue. His eyebrows draw together in a concerned frown.

"It's the last week of the holidays, how are you exhausted?" he asks, and despite the familiar teasing tone, she can tell it's a genuine question.

"Well, when your dad just got fired from being headmaster of the school he opened for you, it takes a bit of a toll on your sleep schedule," she answers, deciding it better to at least tell part of the truth. She hates lying to him.

MG's expression quickly morphs into one of guilt, his eyes widening slightly, and Landon hastily avoids catching her eyes as he focuses his attention on Rafael. It's been seven weeks since the vote, but it was decided he would be allowed to stay to oversee the school until summer break was done and her mom came back to take over. 

"I'm still really sorry about that, Jo, I swear — you know I told Kaleb to vote for him to stay," MG says. "Sure, the dude messed up, but he was a pretty good headmaster. Not that I don't think your mom won't be; she's super cool, and I really like her."

Josie smiles at him and places her hand over the one he has sitting idle on the dock. 

"I know," she assures him with a nod. His relief washes over his face. "Honestly, I wouldn't have blamed you even if you hadn't. He betrayed your trust. All of us. And, Kaleb knows that I don't blame him for voting him out, right? I've tried to tell him, but it just never seems to come out right."

MG nods vigorously. "He does."

"Good." Josie sighs, pulling her hand back. "Now it's just trying to find my dad another job that's the problem. He needs something to keep him going right now. I'm already worried about him as it is. I'm just hoping that when my mom comes back, maybe she'll be able to pull him out of it, though I'm certainly not counting on it."

"What about another teaching job?" 

Josie and MG both look at Landon. He's managed to get Rafael to at least move closer to him, despite his obvious displeasure with the entire situation. She can't say she blames him.

"I heard from one of my coworkers at the Grill that there's a position open at Mystic Falls High," Landon explains gingerly, looking at Josie. "As Principal. Maybe another teaching job that's still in town would be a good fit."

Josie considers it, the idea whirring around her mind. It's definitely a good idea and could be exactly what her dad needs right now. He'd still be in town, still close to them, and still teaching at a high school. It's almost too convenient.

"Your dad used to work there, right?" MG prompts eagerly, his face lighting up. "In, uh... history department? Maybe they'd be more willing to give him the job because he already has experience with them!"

Josie nods, a little spark of hope reignited with a flame of excitement. She makes a mental note to talk to her dad about it later, as well as Lizzie. They've both been worried, but this could be good for him. She knows it will be. 

"Hey, your mom's gonna be cool with me being here, right?" Landon asks, his eyebrows drawing together. "Just, 'cause, you know, I'm not technically enrolled yet, and I'm not sure how your mom's gonna feel about the whole phoenix thing. I still don't know how I feel about it. I died."

"Join the club, man," MG says, and flashes him a grin that Landon returns, ducking his head. 

Josie smiles, rolling her eyes at the two of them. It's better now that things have settled. She's sure that MG saving Landon from Nia helped a lot with the guilt over being the reason he died in the first place. They seem fine with each other now.

Though she can't say the same for Kaleb; Emma chose the worst time to go on sabbatical when her students needed some group therapy sessions the most. And no offence to Dorian, but he doesn't exactly have the same skills. Not even her uncle Tyler does. She turns to Landon, placing a hand on his arm.

"You'll still be allowed to enrol once next semester starts," she assures him. "Being one of a kind is just more of a reason that you should be here, where we can protect you, and where you can learn more about being a phoenix."

Landon chuckles, but it's shaky and nervous. "Even just you saying that feels weird. Though, I guess it's no weirder than werewolves, vampires, witches, and siphoners, right?"

"Don't worry, you fit in just fine," MG agrees. As if to further prove it, he points to Rafael. "I mean, if we're allowed to have a straight-up wolf roaming around the school, then I don't see why someone who turns to ash then bursts into flames when they die only to be reborn wouldn't be offered a spot."

Landon laughs again, ducking his head once more. Josie can't help but think about what it's going to be like when her mom is running the school. It's been years since she was really in charge of it, at least as headmaster.

Her dad wasn't exactly strict, but he was pretty adamant about certain things. She wonders what her mom's viewpoint on them will be once she's in the position. Part of Josie wonders if she even knows about half of the things going on.

"I suppose I—" Landon starts, but is cut off by the loud clacking of heels against the dock, approaching speedily.

Josie glances over her shoulder. She raises her eyebrows at Lizzie and offers her a warm smile, her lips already parting to greet her. 

"I need you," Lizzie shoots out before Josie can even form the one syllable in a greeting. "Right now."

She eyes MG, Landon, and Rafael. Her expression wavers, a glimpse of something close to sadness or sympathy slipping through as she lingers on Rafael. He just stares up at her. It's all he can do.

She did express her concern over his situation when they found out, but then she hopped on a plane to go and visit their mom for six weeks, so she hasn't exactly been doing much to help him. By the time she got back, Josie was out of ideas and had already exhausted pretty much every possible counterspell.

Josie glances at MG and Landon, shooting them both a silent question that's accompanied with an apologetic tilt of her head. She can tell Landon would rather she stayed to help go over any more theories and possibilities for how to help Rafael, but he presses his lips together and waves for her to go ahead.

MG smiles at her and nods, leaning into her shoulder for a brief moment. "Catch up with you later, Jo." The way he says it sounds like a promise. 

She smiles back at him gratefully, then gets to her feet and moves over to Lizzie, who casts her eyes upward in some gesture of exasperation. Josie chooses to ignore her, knowing exactly what it's aimed at. She just hopes that Lizzie has the common sense not to try and say anything about it with MG and Landon still right behind them. Not giving her the chance, she speaks first.

"What's wrong?" she asks, keeping her voice low as she crosses her arms over her chest. 

"Everything," Lizzie answers right away.

She then gives another roll of her eyes, takes hold of Josie's wrist, and turns around. She practically starts marching back down the dock, making Josie follow her.

"Alright, so I'm going to need you to sneak into dad's office and take that box I told you about," she says.

Josie halts, making Lizzie drops her arm. She stares at her in disbelief as Lizzie swings back around to face her with a look of complete and utter exasperation that's exaggerated and dramatic just enough to be typical of her. So much for a new leaf and a semester of positivity.

"What? No," Josie says firmly, shaking her head. "Lizzie, we've already snuck into dad's office way too many times now. If we take anything else, he's going to notice. Besides, I feel bad about lying to him right now."

"He's doing it to us as well, so could you please climb down from your moral high ground and help me?" Lizzie says before turning away from her once more and starting to walk again.

Josie gives a frustrated noise that she really can't even tell if it's a sigh or a scoff, but she follows her all the same.

"Why can't you just do it? You know where it is."

"I was going to," Lizzie says, her tone quickly shifting to annoyed, "but dad caught me when he was coming out and he told me I have to show around some new student, and I couldn't just refuse, so I need you to get the box while I do that."

"Here's an idea: why don't I show the new student around while you do the stealing?" Josie suggests.

"I already told dad that I'll do it," Lizzie says, brushing it off, as simple as that. 

She stops. She turns back around. Josie's forced to stop in front of her as Lizzie raises her hands, breathing out slowly. She's got a feeling it's one of those techniques that she and their dad have been working on.

"This is the last thing I'll ask you to do, I promise," Lizzie says, her tone sincere. "All I need you to do is get into his office and take the box. It's on the bottom shelf of the unit on the right. It's hidden by an illusion spell. Just grab the box and put it in our room. Please, Jo."

Josie takes a second. She searches her eyes, trying her best not to let the wide, pleading look sway her decision. 

"Alright, fine," she sighs.

Lizzie's face lights up, but she quickly presses her lips together before she can cheer. It comes out as more of a squeal.

"Thank you so much, Jo, this is totally going to be worth it, I swear."

Josie just nods, not bothering to point out that she said that about all the other times she's convinced her to do something, especially recently. She supposes she can't really say anything considering she was the one who brought her into the whole thing in the first place. And she will admit, she is curious about the box as well. It wouldn't hurt to get her hands on it.

Lizzie motions her head towards the school and they start walking, leaving the docks behind. Josie risks a glance back over her shoulder. MG and Landon are still sitting by the very end, talking to each other with Rafael laying in a huff behind them. Guilt twists her stomach. She really thought she would be more at ease with lying by now.

Pushing the thought and the feelings it brings along with it deep down for the time being, she walks with Lizzie all the way up until they're back inside. Then she splits off from her, leaving Lizzie as she paces in the foyer, preparing her welcome speech for the new student. 

Josie makes her way through the school to her dad's office. The one that's soon to become her mom's again. It shouldn't be weird. But it's weird. It's not going to make it any easier that he's still going to have to live on the grounds unless he plans on getting a house in Mystic Falls. 

She glances around, turning slightly as she backs slowly toward the doors. She cranes her neck just a little to see in the direction she came, then turns her head to her left. It's clear. There's not another person in sight. 

Taking a deep breath, she reminds herself that it's simple. A quick in and out; undo the illusion spell, grab the box, and get the hell out and up to her room to stash it with every other stolen thing that they have up there. Easy.

She turns and goes to push the doors. They swing open before she even has a chance to touch them. Her eyes widen and she freezes, faced with a familiar man holding a box.

"Oh, Josie—" her dad notices her and hastily moves away from his desk and over to her uncle Damon's side. He shoots him an almost nervous smile and looks back at her. "I'm just, uh...getting everything ready for your mom coming back. The sooner I clear out the office, the easier it'll make things."

Josie's eyebrows go up. "Oh. I guess that...makes sense."

"No offence, as much as I love the family bonding time," Uncle Damon shoots Josie a glance before turning back to her dad with a sarcastic smile and a nod at the box in his arms, "I haven't had super strength in twelve years."

Her dad pauses. His eyes widen and the realization hits him. 

"Oh, yeah, of course. Remember, just take it upstairs for now. It's down the hall, on the—"

"This used to be my house, Ric," her uncle Damon cuts him off. "I think I can navigate it just fine."

Josie manages to pull herself out of her daze, smiling at him as she steps out of the way to let him pass her by. He shoots one back at her on the way, just as warm as it has been every time she's seen him, before heading down the hall. 

"Why was Uncle Damon here?" she asks once he's out of sight. 

Her dad raises his eyebrows slightly, eyeing her with an odd expression. She can tell what it is without needing to question it; he's never liked her or Lizzie calling him that for some reason, even though he's never exactly given them one. But he's still their mom's brother-in-law, and for as long as Josie can remember, he's always been Uncle Damon, and he always will be.

It's just rare that he's around, especially lately. The last time was probably at one of their games against Mystic Falls High. 

"I...asked him to help me move some things," her dad says, turning and walking back into his office. Josie follows, stepping slowly inside. "I could have done it myself, but it saves me the extra trips."

"Of course," Josie says, but her eyes are already moving around the room. They lock onto the unit. Bottom shelf, Lizzie said.

The thought knocks something else into her mind, the charred fabric of Lizzie's skirt. It was one of her favourites and Josie watched her throw it out, deeming it unsalvageable.

"Hey, I actually wanted to talk to you," she tells him, shifting her eyes back to him as he pauses by his desk, glancing up at her. "About Lizzie?"

His face immediately falls, his full attention on her. There's something grim about his expression, some sense of dread, just waiting for her to say whatever it is. She can't help but think it's a little unfair how quick he is to assume the worst, especially at just the mention of Lizzie's name. 

"What happened?" he asks. "We just started this new thing that Emma thinks is going to help her, but she got a little worked up and I'm not sure that—"

"Nothing," Josie cuts him off, maybe a little too sharply. She shakes her head. "Nothing happened. But it is that that I want to talk to you about. I don't think that Lizzie needs it. We were talking all summer and she was going to therapy with mom, and she was taking her meds again. She seemed fine. She still does."

Her dad's the one shaking his head now. "It's not just about the therapy. It's good that she was going, and that she's back on her medication. But she slipped during the practice game and siphoned from Kaleb. She shocked that kid from Mystic Falls." He turns halfway away from her, looking down at a pile of files on his desk. "The next time might be more than just a shock. It's just a precaution."

"She wasn't losing control," Josie says, her eyebrows knitting together at the fact that he didn't figure that out for himself. "Lizzie just told you that so that you wouldn't give her in trouble for using powers during the game. It was on purpose. Her powers are still in check."

"For now," her dad replies. He sighs, looking back up from the papers. "There are too many risks involved to just ignore this, we both know that. Therapy can only help so much, and she could stop taking her medication again. All it could take is one wrong comment from someone and she could snap. It's better to do everything we can before it gets to that point."

Josie stares at him, but he seems so unrecognizable. The way he's talking about this, how easily he's brushing off the point she's trying to make. She knew things were getting bad considering it's been months since he last shaved and she noticed an almost empty bottle of scotch by the window which she knows isn't Uncle Damon's because he refuses to drink it. But she didn't think it was a huge problem. 

"Why have you never said that to me?" she asks.

He's already focused back on the files that he's picked up and now rifling through with intent as if they're so important. His eyes dart to her, his brow furrowing in confusion at her question. She really doesn't think it's all that difficult of one. 

"What are you talking about? You know it's different," he says. "Lizzie—"

"Is Bipolar, I know," Josie cuts him off, anger sparking inside of her, because she knows that's not what he was going to say. "But you always says its genetics. That her episodes come from the Gemini Coven side of the family because they were crazy and had a long line of darkness? If that's the case, then why do you never insist on making sure that my powers aren't getting out of my control?" She shrugs. "I have the same potential for a breakdown, don't I?"

Her dad stops looking at the papers, his eyes focused on her, trying to process her words with puzzlement. To him, it's probably coming out of nowhere, but she can't help but feel like maybe it's been coming for a while. 

"But you've never had one," he points out slowly, clearly trying not to misstep, uncertain of his territory.

"I could, though," she insists. "Dad, mom told Lizzie about the time that I tried to set her on fire for taking my cup. When we were four. That doesn't concern you?"

It sure as hell concerns her. Her mind flits back to the time after MG kissed Penelope and she saw her standing there, giggling away all smug and proud of herself, and her first instinct had been to try the same thing on her and actually succeeded. She didn't even feel remorse at the time. 

She doesn't voice any of it to her dad, but it's there, in the back of her mind. The darkness that he keeps warning Lizzie about and trying to steer her away from is rooted deep inside of her as well, no matter how much he may think it's not. They come from the same bloodline after all.

"Josie, what's gotten into you?" he asks, shaking his head, completely abandoning the files now. "You know that Lizzie needs help with this. You've seen the damage it can cause. Are you...feeling like you might do something? Is that why you're coming to me about this?"

Josie wants to scoff. She's always been close to him, maybe a little more than she is with her mom, yet she's positive that she would never go to him about that. Lizzie would understand far better, and she thinks maybe even her mom could what with being a vampire. His methods haven't exactly been working on Lizzie, but she's not sure that he's even noticing. 

"No, I just wanted to tell you that Lizzie doesn't need any sort of anger or magic management," she says instead. "She hasn't done anything wrong, and her powers are fine. Getting her to do this again is only going to frustrate her, and it's not going to help anyone. So, just...no more counselling? Please?"

He stands there for a moment, staring at her, not saying a word. It had to be said. Lizzie isn't a danger to anyone or herself. Europe was what she seemed to need, and Josie's sure that seeing their mom again after everything probably helped as well. Benching her for one little prank is bad enough, but to say he thinks she needs to go back to her mind-over-magic sessions? It's overkill in her opinion, even if Lizzie is going along with it for the sake of keeping him from getting suspicious.

Her dad nods slowly, though she isn't buying it with that look in his eyes. He's faltering, still confused beyond words, but agreeing with her all the same.

"Alright," he says, lifting his shoulders. "I'll tell her we can stop."

A weight lifts from Josie's shoulders. Even without the same level of codependency, she still feels this need to protect Lizzie. She has to look out for her, even when Lizzie doesn't think that she needs looking after. Especially from simple things that Josie knows far too well could only make things so much worse. 

"Hey, while you're here, do you have a few more minutes to spare?" her dad asks, quickly changing the subject.

She blinks, having been going to leave. Her mind had blanked and she had forgotten her entire reason for being there in the first place. She has to resist the urge to glance over at the unit again; she can't make him any more suspicious than he already might be if what Lizzie told her is true. They have to be more careful, especially now that he's moving his things. The thought of him discovering the ascendant and the Grimoire are gone makes her nauseous.

"I could just use an extra set of hands," he explains, motioning the papers. He glances at them, pausing again, and stops, quickly dropping his arm to his side. "Other than...your uncle Damon's, of course."

"Uh..." She needs to get to that box before he does it himself. "Sure."

He beams at her. "Great. Thanks, sweetie. I just need you to grab that box over there to your left. Just some things I'm sure your mother doesn't want lying around when this becomes her office."

There it is. Josie internally grimaces, doing her best to keep her face a mask of neutrality. It's not weird unless she makes it weird. Her dad looks away though, and his own expression slips slightly. She definitely needs to mention the position at Mystic Falls High as soon as she can slip it into a conversation without being too obvious.

Deciding it's about time she gets back into the usual routine of how things function in their lives, she gets to work. She crosses the room over to a pile of three small boxes stacked on top of each other. She's got a feeling that the majority of the contents are books considering the bare case staring at her from the corner of the room. They were all personal to him, rather than necessities of the school, so it makes sense to take them out.

"This one?" she asks, pointing to the one on top. 

Her dad looks over at her and nods. She lifts it as he slips the papers into a slightly bigger one by his feet before pushing the flaps down. He hauls it up into his arms and crosses the room, passing her as he heads out the door. She throws another glance at the unit, chewing on the inside of her cheek. She has to get that box. 

Her dad peeks his head back into the room. He raises an eyebrow at her. "You coming?"

She quickly nods, smiles, and follows after him with the box. Thankfully, she manages to get ahead of him on the stairs. She places the box down on the floor of his room, in the far west wing of the house, completely ignoring her Uncle Damon. Her dad is only just making his way down the hall when she flies back out past him under the pretence of going back to grab another one.

Once back in the office, she hurries over to the unit. She drops to the ground, her heart racing through her fingertips and against her ribs. It takes her a panic-induced second to remember that she doesn't need an incantation to get rid of the illusion spell. 

Grabbing the out of place book on the bottom shelf, she lets the magic Lizzie put in place seep into her skin. It travels through her veins, up her hand, to her shoulder, and down her spine. It joins the faint buzz of magic leftover from yesterday.

With the spell undone, the rest of the books vanish from sight. Just as Lizzie said there would be, there's a box. She doesn't waste a second. She slips it out, only setting it aside long enough for her to mutter the incantation for a replacement illusion spell. The books won't be getting moved, and she sees no reason why her dad wouldn't leave the box there. He probably won't even notice it's gone. 

The air shimmers for a second, and then the bottom shelf is filled with a neat stack of books once more. She then stands, picking the box back up, and hurries over to the two of her dad's stuff. Eyeing the door warily, she tries to think. He'll notice if she tries to walk out of the room with it in her hands.

Deciding to trust her instincts, she lifts up the lid of one of the boxes and stashes the smaller one inside. She then picks up the box and walks out of the office. She nearly walks right into her dad. 

He smiles at her in thanks, then sidesteps her to collect the rest. She hurries back up the stairs for the second time, careful not to trip over the girl lounging on the landing. She bypasses her uncle Damon on the way. She falters by the door to her dad's room, watching Uncle Damon as he goes down the stairs.

The second he's out of sight, she dumps the box in the room, but not before pulling the flaps back up and taking the small one from inside. She slips down the hall before her dad can come back up and see her. For once in her life, part of her resents the fact that she isn't a vampire. She could have had this whole thing done in the blink of an eye.

When she reaches her and Lizzie's room, she slips inside and quickly stashes the box under Lizzie's pillows. It's not exactly the most creative hiding place, but she's tired from speed-walking halfway across the building. Besides, no one's going to come looking for it. 

She drops onto Lizzie's bed, taking a seat as she shakes her head at herself. Just a few days ago, she was struggling to get Lizzie to actually take any sort of interest in any of this. She didn't want to know a thing about the merge despite Josie's insistence that they should know everything.

And now, she's the one that needs convincing. She just wants it all to slow down, to be able to focus on one thing at a time, and really mean it. But they do have a clock on their lives, so hurrying does makes some sense.

Her eyes drift back to Lizzie's pillows. She remembers Lizzie's description of the photo she found in it, of Jo when she was younger. They've both grown accustomed to the one of her that their dad keeps — or kept, she thinks now, realizing it wasn't in its usual place while she was in there — in his office. It's always been there.

But this is one she's never seen before, from when she was around their age. Reaching across the bed, she lifts up the pillow. She pulls the box toward her. Her fingers hesitate on the lid. She traces them over it lightly, her heart beating that little bit faster. Her eyes go to the open door.

With a flick of her other hand and a quick mutter, it closes without a sound. The air in the room shifts, almost as if it leaves for a second. Then it settles, leaving her with the feeling of being sealed inside.

She turns her eyes back down to the box and gently pushes her fingers underneath the edges of the lid. Pulling it off, she sets it to the side. Right away, she's met with the photo Lizzie had told her about. 

It's easy to recognize Jo. She had the same smile when she came back. It's not just that, though. It's weird for her to even think it, but her features are familiar in the same way that she recognizes herself in the mirror. It's just a small thing here and there, but Josie can see it. She even has the same colour eyes as Lizzie.

Her eyes drift to the person beside her. Even though Lizzie prepared her for it, Josie is still startled to realize she recognizes him as well. He seems so much happier in the photo than he did when she last saw him in the prison world. It's not hard for her to guess why.

He really doesn't look any different age-wise. She wonders when exactly he got turned, how it happened. Just thinking about how his family must have cast him out for it; she hopes the bite wasn't forced on him, at least. Being thrown into a prison world for something he didn't choose. The thought makes her feel sick.

She picks up the photo, a small smile forming on her lips. They really do look similar. Like twins. Maybe they were. After all, her dad did tell her and Lizzie that twins ran in the Gemini Coven, he just never talked about Jo's potential twin. She sits the thought at the back of her mind for now as she places the photo carefully beside her on the bed.

There's another staring up at her from the box. By the look of it, there's a few, along with some other things.

The realization clicks. It was probably all of Jo's things that were kept. Photos of her, her family. That's probably why her dad was keeping it safe and hidden in his office. They're the last few things he really has of her. 

Josie tries not to let the sadness settle in her. It makes her think back on her birthday, and she doesn't want to do that. She can't, not when it's only been a few months. Her heart still aches in a way that she's sure most people's doesn't when they think of their sixteenth birthday, supposedly the most magical time of any teenager's life.

She picks up the next photo, taking it in carefully. There are four people this time. Jo and the man from the prison world are both there again, but in between them are two little kids. They both have blonde little curls, clear blue eyes, and are grinning brightly with their matching blue Christmas sweaters. It was clearly taken outside, and judging by the wreath the man's holding and the miniature silver tree Jo's holding up, they were having fun preparing for the holidays.

Again, Josie can't help but notice the distinct features they all share. How similar the two little kids look, and how Jo and the man are smiling at the camera in the same way. They look like one happy family, typical siblings on Christmas day. Her heart sinks down into her stomach, getting wrapped up in the knots.

She can't help but wonder what it would have been like if Jo hadn't died, and the leader hadn't wiped out the rest of the coven. They could have met these people, grew up surrounded by them. She loves everyone she did grow up around, but she can't help but wonder about the possibilities.

She lets the picture embed itself into her mind, taking in the relatives she'll never meet. The kids are evidently twins as well. Maybe they would have been her aunt and uncle. She wonders what their names were. She thinks she vaguely recalls her Uncle Tyler saying something to Lizzie about her resembling some girl named Liz or maybe Liv, but she can't remember.

It feels like there's a cloud slowly forming above her, dark and grey, and threatening to rain. She forces herself to move on from the picture. She goes to set it aside with the last one when she catches the sound of a voice drifting underneath the door. Her eyes widen, momentarily forgetting the locking spell she threw on the door.

She hastily picks the other photo back up and stashes them back in the box just as the handle turns. There's a pause as the door doesn't budge. It buys her just enough time to put the lid back and quickly hide the box back under Lizzie's pillows. She breathes out a sigh of relief. Then the door is pushed open, the spell lifting from the air.

"—nd this is my room," Lizzie says as she strides in, head held high with a note of pride in her voice. "Well, mine and my twin sister's. This is Josie."

Her eyes lock onto Josie, and something flickers in them. The look clearly says that she doesn't appreciate having to undo a spell to get into her own room. It takes Josie a second to realize there's someone right behind her. Her heart jumps a beat of surprise at the unfamiliar face. The corners of his mouth turn up into an easy smirk, staring directly at her. Her eyes widen, catching on.

"We usually do these tours together, but she had some important things to get done," Lizzie says, turning back to smile sweetly at him. 

"That's alright," the guy says, turning his eyes on Lizzie. He flicks them up and down in a mock attempt at being discreet. "You're a pretty good...what did you say? Tour guide?"

Considering his strong Scottish accent, Josie thinks it's safe to say he's the new student Lizzie was talking about. Josie's eyes narrow slightly as Lizzie laughs in that almost simpering sort of way, practically fluttering her eyelashes at him. She groans internally. It's going to be Rafael's first day all over again, she can already see it.

"Thanks," Lizzie says then spins back around to look at Josie. "This is Sebastian. He's going to enrol here next semester, and I'm going to help him with his new dorm room. If you couldn't already tell, he's a vampire. From the twelfth century."

Josie's eyebrows shoot up but she does her best to keep her expression neutral. She must fail because Sebastian's smirk only grows as his eyes move back to her. They don't stay long, though, clearly already deciding that he's uninterested in her. His gaze immediately drifts back to Lizzie. That can't end well.

"Uh, Lizzie?" Josie says, forcing a smile that anyone could see through.

Lizzie raises her eyebrows slightly and hums in response, too busy already making heart eyes at Sebastian. 

"Could I talk to you for a second? Alone? There's just, uh... that thing you asked me to do, well, I just need your advice."

Lizzie snaps herself out of it at that. She nods, her eyes widening slightly, and she quickly turns back to Sebastian with that sweet smile. He's clearly enjoying every second of her attention. For now.

"We'll continue this in just a minute," she tells him, and reaches out, touching his arm lightly.

Josie watches with raised eyebrows as she brushes her fingers down his arm slowly, then pulls away, her head tilted.

"Just some sisterly stuff. If you want to head down the hall and take the stairs up, you should be able to find your way to the turret where all the seniors go to smoke. I'll meet you there."

Sebastian nods without hesitation. "Absolutely."

He throws a quick glance back over in Josie's direction. She forces her smile to stay in place. The skin under his eyes shifts, veins crawling up underneath the surface but not quite reaching as his eyes darken for a split second. Her breath catches but she presses her lips together and tilts her head up a little. 

A smug sort of satisfaction appears on his face and they're gone as quickly as they came as he looks back at Lizzie. The look in his eyes is already making Josie nauseous. Thankfully, he leaves, turning down the hallway as Lizzie instructed.

Lizzie watches him go, leaning halfway out of the door until she's sure he's out of sight. Not out of earshot, though, Josie can't help but think. The thought doesn't seem to bother Lizzie too much as she quickly turns back to her, now alert and urgent.

"_He'_s the new guy?" Josie asks before Lizzie can get a word out. "What was dad thinking? There's a reason he and mom created the rule of only accepting newly turned vampires. He's _nine centuries_ older than anyone else here!"

"That's what you wanted to talk about?" Lizzie hisses, throwing her hands out in exasperation. "I thought there was a problem with you getting the box! Please, tell me you got the box."

Josie rolls her eyes and does her best not to scoff, but nods. 

"Yeah, I got the box," she says, and Lizzie visibly relaxes, "and ran into Uncle Damon on the way. But, Lizzie, we have to talk about this new guy. I mean, clearly, you have some sort of—"

"Okay, slow down there, Mother Gothel," Lizzie interrupts, holding a hand up. "You got the box, and I'm presuming you hid it somewhere in here already, so nice work. And thank you. Equally as importantly—" her eyebrows furrow, "—Uncle Damon was here? He rarely visits anymore with mom out of town."

Josie stares at her in disbelief. It shouldn't shock her. This is always the way it's been. And yet, here she is, trying to figure out just how Lizzie's mind works without a clear, functioning path to follow.

"Are you not hearing me clearly, or are you just ignoring me?" Josie questions with a shake of her head. "Why are you so okay with this centuries-old vampire going to school with us?"

Lizzie rolls her eyes and lets out a long, exaggerated sigh. "You're so dramatic," she says, but motions a hand vaguely to the empty space next to her. "And because Sebastian isn't centuries-old." She pauses. "Technically. He was turned when he was seventeen, and he's been desiccated since."

Josie stops. "Wait, so...he only just turned then was desiccated?"

"Yes," Lizzie says, emphasizing it slowly. "Which means, he has no idea how the world works, or how to be a vampire. The poor guy needs us, Jo. And, I mean, did you hear his accent? _God._"

Josie processes. A tiny hint of regret stabs her in the chest for being so quick to judge him. But just because maybe he's not quite as creepy as she had originally thought just moments ago, that doesn't mean she trusts him. There was something off. Though it was hard to tell with him all over Lizzie. 

She shakes her head, brushing it off. Sebastian is not her concern. He's just some new guy. He can easily make friends with anyone in the school, she's sure. Maybe he and Roman can be friends since he doesn't seem to be going anywhere either any time soon even though it's been made clear that he's no longer able to attend as a student.

"Alright, well, I got the box like you asked," she says, and gestures to the pillows as she gets to her feet. "But that's it, Lizzie. I know I was the one who suggested searching dad's office after we found the ascendant, but this is the last time. He's moving his stuff out of there, so it would be pointless anyway."

"That's totally fine," Lizzie assures her, wide-eyed. "And, again, thank you so much. Now..."

She trails off, but her excitement practically lights up her face before she throws a glance over her shoulder. Josie already knows what she's going to say anyway, and rolls her eyes again.

"Go," she says, "finish giving him the tour. I need to go and find Landon."

She starts to go and walk away, deciding she'll start with the docks and hope he and MG are still there. If not, she'll try his room. Even while stuck in wolf form, Rafael seems to prefer being in the school, tucked away safe and away from everyone else in his and Landon's room. Lizzie places a hand on her arm, quickly stopping her. 

"I was sort of thinking that maybe you could look through the box while I finish showing Sebastian around?" she says, though it comes out uncertain and doubtful. She flashes a wide smile at her as if it'll do anything to help her case.

"I can't," Josie says simply, shrugging and shifting Lizzie's arm out of place. "I promised Landon I would help him with Rafael, and we're nowhere near close to figuring out what's going on. We can look through the box when we're both free, but right now, I need to go. And Sebastian's waiting for you"

Lizzie's lips part as if to protest. Nothing comes out and her expression wavers then slips. She nods but looks disappointed while doing so. 

"Yeah, yeah, of course," she says, and smiles it away. "That makes way more sense. Tell me if you have any success with Raf, yeah? I want him back, it's already weird not having him around."

It's been weird for seven weeks. But Lizzie decided to hop on a plane and jet off to Europe three days after Triad held them all hostage, so how would she know that? Josie doesn't voice any of that out loud.

"I will," she promises, because it also counts as a promise that she will have some success, eventually, somehow. 

Lizzie nods then turns, and walks quickly down the hallway, heading straight for the stairs. Josie shakes her head but goes the opposite way for the stairs leading down instead of up. Sebastian's already got Lizzie's full attention by the looks of it, and it hasn't even been a day. She's just hoping it isn't going to affect Lizzie's focus on what they're working toward.

They're still working on a clock, and they can't afford to run out of time. Josie is sure they could be close to something, even if Lizzie doesn't think so. That's why she'll just need to be more careful about using the ascendant when Lizzie could be around.

* * *

When it hits close to eleven, that's when Kol and Davina decide it's a good time for them to head out for the airport. Of course, they stop in at the hotel just a few blocks away from it in order for Caroline and Bonnie to grab their things. Caroline can't help but snicker when the receptionist eyes Kol suspiciously when he calls out to them to be quick or he'll make them leave their stuff behind.

They _are_ quick, zooming around the room, quite literally in Caroline's case. It's one of those times when she's glad they have so little with them; the most they really have to do is throw the clothes they took off last night back into their bags and collect the few essentials they left scattered around the room.

"I can't believe we're actually going back to New Orleans," Caroline says once they're done and are walking in the direction of the airport with Kol and Davina just ahead of them. "We could have saved ourselves the trip here if Kyana just told us where Freya lived instead! That's a whole day we've wasted."

"It wasn't a waste," Bonnie points out. 

Caroline sighs. "I know. I just can't help feeling like we're running out of time."

"Care, we still have six years," Bonnie says. "Lizzie and Josie aren't just going to magically age-up to twenty-two in the time it takes us to get back home. It's gonna take about a day to get back to New Orleans, we'll ask Freya for her help, and once we manage to convince her, we'll be on a plane back to Mystic Falls. Trust me, it's gonna be fine."

She's right, and Caroline knows that. It doesn't make the sinking feeling of dread any easier to push aside, or the urgency to get back home. She was hoping that both of the girls would come to visit for those few weeks of summer so that she could see them now that they know about everything. But Josie stayed behind, and when she tried to bring the subject up with Lizzie, she was immediately shut down and it was brushed away as if it was nothing.

"I never thought I would feel homesick for Mystic Falls," she admits as they cross over the street to the airport.

Bonnie smiles and shakes her head lightly. "Neither did I. But, really, we're homesick for our families. They just happen to live in Mystic Falls, despite everything we said about getting out."

Caroline's mouth twitches up. "Maybe they have the right idea," she says, nodding her head towards Kol and Davina. "Of course, I could never leave the school behind, not after everything we've put into it."

"That doesn't mean you have to stay there," Bonnie replies. 

Caroline turns her head to look at her, a crease between her eyebrows. 

"I just mean," Bonnie raises a shoulder in a shrug, "is going back and being headmistress again what you really want? You and Alaric talked about this. You were even looking for someone to take over, remember? Didn't you find that guy?"

"I did," Caroline says reluctantly. "But...I have to go back, Bonnie. It was stupid to think that I could just hire some random stranger to take over for Alaric. The kids need someone they trust, and I...I want to do it, obviously...but..."

"Maybe right now just isn't the best time to be taking back over," Bonnie suggests, finishing it for her as if it's her own thoughts to save Caroline from having to voice it. "Alaric was the one who messed up. He chose not to trust the students he promised to protect. You didn't even know about that thing in the tunnels. But that doesn't mean you have to go there and take a job that you aren't ready to step back into yet."

Caroline wishes she could argue. With everything going on right now, it doesn't feel like the right time to go back to running the school. After a phone call with Alaric that ended how they always do, she had convinced herself it was exactly the perfect time, because it would be mean she would be there, with the girls, and doing what she had planned to since the second she opened it. And one day, she will go back to it, and she'll be able to run it like she wants to. 

But right now, she has to stay focused, and she honestly doesn't feel like she's in the right place to take on the responsibility again. That had been why she had been looking for someone else the second she heard the kids had voted Alaric out. She's spent all summer doing it without Lizzie knowing. She just wishes that Alaric had at least talked to her about this, about the thing in the tunnels and his worries. She knows exactly why he didn't.

"I'll text Alaric in the airport," she decides, and Bonnie gives her a gentle smile. "And I'll reach back out to Professor Vardemus, see if he's still open to the job. Who knows, it might just be temporary until we can sort things out or..."

She sighs, her mouth stretching humourlessly as she shakes her head.

"I don't even know how Alaric could fix this. Maybe once we're there, and we can see the damage — it's gonna take a lot by the sounds of it. I don't know where I'm going to even start with trying to get the kids to trust him again."

"See, this is why you don't mix humans and supernatural beings," Kol says, turning slightly to throw her a look over his shoulder. "They don't trust each other. And humans eventually show their true, ugly side — you know, I never really did like Alaric that much, there was just something abou—"

"Thank you, Kol," Bonnie swiftly cuts him off, sarcastically sweet in tone and smile. 

He shoots her a smile back in response before turning back as they reach the airport. Bonnie looks back at Caroline.

"Don't worry about it right now," she tells her. "Alaric is not your responsibility. Lizzie, and Josie, and the school are. He can sort his own crap out, alright?"

Caroline manages a grateful smile. She really hopes that it's just something else Bonnie is right about. Everything's already building up into one big ball of pressure that's weighing on her as if she's suddenly turned into Atlas. The thought of having to deal with this as well when she gets home isn't something she needs right now.

They walk into the airport, navigating their way through the partially empty room. Caroline goes with Kol right up to the main desk while Davina and Bonnie both hang back. It doesn't take long before they've found out the next flight boarding to New Orleans is in forty minutes and just happens to have four seats that they happily buy tickets for.

Caroline does, anyway. Kol's insistent that with just a little more charm, he could have them on the plane for free. She takes his arm and steers him away from the desk, wiping off the dazzling, bordering-on-flirtatious smile he was giving the poor dazed guy behind the desk.

They walk back over to where Davina and Bonnie are waiting. Davina simply arches an eyebrow at Kol, but otherwise, she seems to be more amused by his show than anything else. Caroline offers up two of the tickets to the both of them before handing Bonnie hers. 

"Alright, so we'll be there for roughly seven pm," Caroline says, "which means that we're either going to be bothering Freya the second we get off the plane, or we're waiting until morning. Which means another hotel." She turns her eyes on Kol. "How does your sister feel about visitors?"

"Considering the alternative would be having to stay in the same building as you overnight, I'm going to go ahead and say that she won't mind us stopping in when we get there," Kol says. "And if she does, then I'll remind her who her daughter's favourite uncle is."

"Marcel?" Davina asks with furrowed eyebrows.

Kol glares at her, and her feigned confusion quickly dissolves into a playful smile. The sight of it seems to break him too considering the corners of his mouth turn up as he rolls his eyes at her.

"Freya will understand once we explain it to her," he tells Caroline. "So, relax. I'm going to have to sit on a plane with you for fifteen hours, and I remember hearing all about how much of an organized nightmare you were. Of course, Nik was clearly too infatuated to notice, but I don't want to spend the entire flight trying to block you out."

For once, Caroline doesn't get jolted out of her safe little bubble at the mention of Klaus. It brings a small smile to her face, a tiny broken piece inside of her chest warming. She rolls her eyes at him all the same and holds her hands up in front of her.

"Fine," she says, emphasizing the one word to prove her surrender. "I promise not to talk to you even once throughout the flight unless it's something we need to know about Freya. Like the fact that we have never met this Keelin or Vincent and have no idea if they're going to convince her to say no without even hearing us out."

"They won't," Davina says, shaking her head. "They'll be protective and probably reluctant to hear you out at first, but Vincent and Keelin are both reasonable. With us there, they'll listen to you, and I know that Freya will agree to it."

Caroline nods, taking that new information in. She's certainly hoping that Freya will agree to it. Otherwise, they'll have two out of the three things they need to undo this whole Gemini Coven nightmare once and for all. She can't get this close only to have it slip through her fingers. She won't.

"Come on, let's sit down and wait until it's time to go," Bonnie says, motioning her head to the seats behind her. 

They go to move, Caroline picking the two bags up that she dropped to accompany Kol. 

"I hate to say it, but I think once we're there, we should let Kol do most of the talking," she says, lowering her voice as she leans towards Bonnie, glancing at Kol's back. "It's just that we've never met Freya before, and he'll know how best to get her to agree to help us."

"You're right," Bonnie says, nodding along with her. She raises a shoulder in a shrug, keeping her eyes ahead. "As long as he doesn't decide to stop helping us, leads us into some sort of trap in the middle of New Orleans, and stops Freya from agreeing to give us some of her blood which, for all he knows, could be used against him somehow."

Caroline rolls her eyes but grins. "He's not going to do that. He's taking as much of a risk as I am by walking into New Orleans — more of one because he's him." She shakes her head. "Besides, he and—"

"Elena?" Bonnie cuts her off, frowning.

Caroline blinks. "Not quite who I was going to say," she says slowly, her eyes narrowing, "and that—"

"No, it's Elena," Bonnie says hurriedly, lifting an arm to point over to the seats lining the front of the window. "Look."

Caroline stops as she quickly looks over at where she's pointing. Her eyes widen when she spots Elena — she's sitting in one of the seats, bags at her feet, and smiling at her phone with a cup of coffee in her other hand. As if somehow sensing them looking at her, Elena lifts her head. Their eyes lock, and Elena's face lights up, her eyes growing just as wide.

"Oh my god!" Caroline squeals before she can stop herself, and rushes over to her.

Elena's already up out of her seat, laughing in disbelief. She stretches out her arms just time for Caroline to fly into her, wrapping her own tightly around her in a crushing hug. Elena gasps but continues to laugh, careful to keep her coffee out of the way.

"Oh, bloody hell," she hears Kol mutter and just knows he's rolling his eyes.

Caroline quickly pulls back but keeps an arm around her as she turns her head to look back at Bonnie. Elena grins at her as Bonnie joins in on her laughter and quickly closes the space between them, allowing herself to be pulled right into the middle of the hug. 

"Oh my god, I've missed you two so much," Elena says, her voice slightly muffled by Bonnie's shoulder and part of Caroline's hair. Even so, Caroline can hear the smile in it. 

They both laugh as they agree, and Caroline squeezes her eyes shut to stop the slight sting at the back of them. 

"I'm gonna miss breathing as well soon," Bonnie says, her voice slightly breathless.

"Oh god," Caroline quickly pulls back, still laughing as she looks at her and Elena with teary eyes, "I'm sorry!"

They're all a mess of laughter by that point, and Caroline can see the shine in both their eyes through the blur of her own. 

"Ugh, it's been too long," Elena says, shaking her head as she smiles at the two of them and slips her hand up to Bonnie's hair, running her fingers gently through the wavy strands. Bonnie leans into her hand. "You cut it again. You both look amazing — god, I feel like I haven't seen either of you in years."

"More like eight months, three weeks, and five days," Caroline says. She raises a shoulder in a shrug. "But it feels like forever."

Elena and Bonnie both laugh again, and the fondness warms her heart and that giant piece in her chest that's been held by them since they were three years old. There's an exaggerated sigh from behind them. They all turn to look at Kol, Davina standing next to him and watching them with a faint smile.

"It wasn't bad enough that I have to spend a fifteen-hour flight with you two, no, let's just get your whole little gang back together for this flight," Kol says, the sarcasm dripping from his voice as he eyes them disdainfully. "As if I needed more reminders of my beloved siblings and their terrible mistakes."

Elena raises her eyebrows at Kol while Caroline and Bonnie both simply roll their eyes at him. Somehow, it only takes a few hours to get used to Kol again. Although, she can't imagine ever having such a calm response all those years ago.

"Kol?" Elena questions in evident confusion, glancing at Davina, then back to Caroline and Bonnie. "What's going on?"

"We'll explain it all in a minute," Caroline promises, and turns her back on Kol.

He's the one rolling his eyes this time. He and Davina take the empty seats just down from Elena. The realization that she's standing in front of her hits Caroline.

"Wait, what are you doing here?" she asks with a slight shake of her head. "I — I thought that you were away checking up on someone that Jeremy had found and needed your help with?"

"Yeah, I was," she says. "The guy lived here. He was some witch, got into a bit of trouble, and Jeremy thought he'd call his doctor sister who he apparently has on speed dial. As soon as I see him tomorrow, I'm gonna make him take me off that — this is the fourth person this month! I haven't been home all week."

"So, we just happened to be in the same place at the exact same time and didn't even know it?" Bonnie asks, raising her eyebrows. She smiles. "Wow. The universe seems to be doing us a favour. That's a first."

"I know," Elena says, her voice immediately softening all over again. "Honestly, if I had known you guys were here, I would have told you and got you to meet me someplace in town. I was seriously beginning to think that I wouldn't see either of you until Christmas at this rate."

In truth, Caroline had been thinking the same thing. With everything going on, their schedules just never seemed to line up, and it was a constant source of guilt. They had tried to plan it out, but it had slipped her mind even that very day, and she wasn't sure it was going to work out. 

It's not like she was alone; Bonnie refused to stay back at Mystic Falls for longer than two months at a time despite Caroline continuing to point out that she has her own family to take care of. Apparently they understand, though she's finding it difficult to imagine Damon or Enzo taking her absence well. 

They always have each other, though, and it just never feels right knowing Elena isn't there. She always reassures herself with the reminder that she's usually back home, surrounded by all of their loved ones almost all-year-round.

"Well, our timing couldn't have been better," Caroline says, and receives smiles from the two of them as she takes one of their hands in each of her own. "I'm actually pretty glad that we're not meeting back up in Mystic Falls. With everything going on, I can't imagine the reunion would have been the same."

Elena's eyebrows furrow, frowning. "What do you mean? Is this about Ric stepping down as headmaster of the school?"

Caroline frowns. She shares a confused glance with Bonnie, only making Elena's own grow visibly on her face as she looks between them questioningly.

"Damon hasn't... told you what's been going on?" Caroline asks with a shake of her head. "Or Jeremy? Alaric, even?"

"No?" Elena says uncertainly, quickly becoming alert as she leans in a little closer. "Why? What's been going on? All Damon's mentioned over our last call was that he was helping Alaric move his things out of the office. He and Alaric were both vague on why he's suddenly decided not to be headmaster anymore, but I figured it was because you were coming home."

Caroline can't help but scoff, her shoulders dropping. She shakes her head slowly, and she can tell by the look on Bonnie's face that she's just as annoyed with a certain one-hundred-odd-year-old ex-vampire. 

"Those assholes," she says, causing Elean's eyebrows to shoot up. 

"What?" Elena asks, now glancing between both of them in worry. "What's wrong?"

"I guess it's a good thing we're about to catch a fifteen-hour flight," Caroline says, "because apparently you can't trust men with anything that involves actual communication."

Elena eyes them, her expression quickly turning to understanding and a weariness that can only come from years of dealing with this already. "I'm guessing there's more to why Ric's not headmaster anymore?"

"Oh, a lot more," Caroline replies, and Elena nods, glancing away with a glint of annoyance in her eyes. "Let's get you all caught up on Mystic Falls' latest drama, shall we? That way, we're all on the same page when we show up and kick their asses."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are a little bit calmer now, though the tension may be returning very soon. Sebastian is finally here! I'm in love with him and I haven't even seen one of his scenes yet, but I blame Thomas Doherty for that. But how do you we feel about Sebastian? Or Caroline and Bonnie going to see Freya? Or the box? I would love to hear all of you thoughts and theories! ❤


	11. Look out Mystic Falls

It takes Lizzie an hour to finish giving Sebastian a thorough tour of the school. She doesn't entirely mind, of course. There's something charming about him. It could be his accent combined with how dark, mysterious, and old-fashioned he seems.

She didn't manage to get much out of him, but judging by his questions on if the vampires are allowed to feed on the witches and werewolves, how far into town they were allowed to go for a feed, and what do they do if they kill someone, she's got a pretty good guess of how his mind works. It's intriguing. 

Of course, her dad just had to run into them and decide it was the perfect time to whisk Sebastian away to have a proper talk with him. At least it gives her a chance to put more of her focus on the box. Part of her wishes that Josie would show a little more interest in it, as well as the Grimoire, especially considering she was the one who shoved all of this on her in the first place. 

But if she has to go it alone for now, so be it. Maybe Josie will at least be able to find a way to turn Rafael back while Lizzie works out the secrets of the Gemini Coven so they can stop this merge. For Josie's sake, she's willing to care about the whole thing, even if they do still have six years until they really have to worry about it. She finds the box with ease once she's back in her room.

"Honestly, Jo," she mutters to herself with a shake of her head. "Under the pillows? I thought you were better than this."

She simply takes a seat on the floor, leaning her back against the edge of her own bed with the box settled in her lap. It's surprisingly lighter than she had thought it was for some reason. She's just hoping that secrets and answers are light even when they're as dark and twisted as they are.

Sighing quietly, she pulls the lid off and sets it aside. She removes the first photo quickly, sparing another glance as she takes it in for a second time. Then she moves onto the second one. Another Christmas one. 

She takes a moment to pause on this one, picking it up to get a better look. Her eyes pass over the prison world man, the little blonde twins that share a scary resemblance with her own baby pictures, and onto Jo. She looks so much younger. Carefree. Lighter. Before everything went wrong in her life.

Lizzie sets the photo on top of the other and continues. She has a feeling it's going to be mostly photos. She picks up the first few on top and flicks through them. They're all of mostly the same people. One or two have an unfamiliar face here and there, but in almost all of them are Jo and her freaky prison world twin, as well as the little blonde ones.

Her stomach twists with bitterness the longer she stares at them. This happy little family. They're technically her family as well, she knows, and yet, she doesn't believe it. Doesn't accept it, more like it. She doesn't know them. She never has, and she never will. They're not her family. Not really.

Moving on, she goes to set the photos aside, preparing herself for the next few. Her eyes catch something on the back of one in her hand and she pauses. She tilts her head slightly and twists her wrist around to read the curly black handwriting.

_Josette, Malachai, Olivia, and Lukas. September 2nd, 1993._

Lizzie sits up, reading over it again. She quickly pulls the photo out from the rest, setting the small pile aside in favour of it. Turning it over, she takes in the people in it. Jo, the prison world man, little blonde twins. 

She glances back down at the pile before snatching the top one back up. She turns it over as well, hoping that it isn't just a one-off and that she's finally getting somewhere. Sure enough, more curly black handwriting.

_Josette and Malachai. December 24th, 1993._

Her heart skips a beat. Then she's beaming at the photo in triumph and cheering to herself, attempting to keep quiet but failing. This is it. This is exactly what Josie needs. A name. Surely a name will be enough to satisfy her and put her on a path to the answers she so clearly wants.

"Malachai," she says quietly, staring back down at the man in the photo beside Jo. Her nose wrinkles. "Sort of a serial killer-y name, but okay."

She places both photos back into the box, doing the same with the rest. Now that she has what she needs, she just has to find Josie and tell her. She goes to stand, then hesitates. 

What if telling Josie the name of the prison world man — Malachai — makes her even more eager to watch him, and check in on him? She's already desperate to find out more about him and why he's there. Giving him a name might only make it worse. Giving her more reason to go back into that place is the last thing Lizzie wants. But...she can't just not tell her. Can she?

Shaking her head at herself, she snaps out of it. She promised Josie she would be a better twin, take her feelings into consideration more. The last time she withheld something from her, Josie got mad at her in the middle of Miss Mystic Falls and wouldn't talk to her for a solid few days. Even a banana-cream pie didn't work. _That_'s the last thing she wants.

Making her decision, she places the lid back on the box and climbs to her feet. If one name is going to help Josie, then she'll give it to her. All she wants is for this whole thing to be over with as soon as possible so that they can go back to normal. That was the whole point of agreeing to help.

She slips the box into her middle drawer. It's probably a lot safer than under her pillows, that's for sure. She then crosses the room, heading for the door. Just as she's reaching out for the handle, she pauses. Again.

She turns her head, her eyes drifting back across the room. They lock onto that wooden panel. It's probably nothing. Just an unsettled feeling. It's probably just from the stress. Maybe she needs to go and see her dad again sooner than she thought.

She can't help herself. She crosses back over the room, kneeling down in front of the panel. It's quick and easy to slip out of place. Almost too easy, as if it was already loose. More so than usual.

She peers behind the rest of the panels. Her heart drops. The Grimoire's there, along with that stupid journal Penelope gave to Josie, but there's no sign of the ascendant.

Pressing her lips together tightly, she tells herself to stay calm. Her instincts are never off. Of course Josie took the ascendant. Even after they talked about it, and she promised, yet again, that they would focus on the Grimoire instead. Her obsession with the ascendant and the prison world is making her regret the fact that they ever found it in the first place.

She puts the wooden panel back in place and gets to her feet once more, spinning right around and marching out of the room. Wherever Josie has taken the ascendant, she's going to find her. Preferably before her dad does.

* * *

It's strange how different everything seems. Josie can't help but notice all the little things that were left untouched and the bigger things that were changed as she walks slowly down the hallway of her home. It's not really her home, though, when she thinks about it. It's what it used to be; the home of two brothers who had lived for so long, rarely at peace with each other. Rarely there together at all as far as she can remember.

As she lifts a hand, letting her fingers brush the indents of the border running the length of the wall, she remembers what her Mom told her. One of those brothers was supposed to be a part of her family. He was, but only for a day.

She remembers her mom's voice cracking when she asked about him and she started telling her everything. Stefan Salvatore. The namesake of the Memorial library as well as of Stefanie Salvatore. He and her Mom were married for just one day. There's a twinge in her chest as she thinks of the ring her Mom still wears. 

Her mom was much more at ease talking about her Uncle Damon. He was usually there to tell the stories along with her, lounging casually as he bickers with her mom about how it really went. It always made Josie giggle, especially when he would exaggerate with dramatics and make her mom roll her eyes at him. 

He wasn't around all of the time, but he cropped up enough for her to call him family. She still does, even though he's not around as much anymore. Seeing him startled her, especially with her dad. She's heard from her Uncle Damon that he and her dad used to be good friends, but she doesn't see it. Her dad rarely talks about him either, and when he does, it isn't with any kind of fondness. She prefers her Mom's side of things a lot more. Damon definitely comes off better in those versions of events.

Josie pulls herself from her thoughts as she loses sight of the person she's following. He turns the corner and she pushes herself a little faster to catch up with him. It makes her feel sort of like a ghost to follow him around without him being able to see or hear her. It's strange, but she's weirdly enjoying it.

She takes the same corner and he's back in her sight. This wasn't her original plan when she grabbed the ascendant after being unable to find Landon or MG. It was more along the lines of get in, wander some more, see if she can find any other clues about him. 

But then she saw him pacing in the kitchen and talking to himself about an eclipse or a full moon. When he left the kitchen, still talking, she decided to follow him. He's gone quiet now, but he's got an air of determination surrounding him that has her continuing to keep a few steps behind him as she takes in the familiar and yet foreign halls.

Now that she knows he's somehow related to her, she can't leave him alone. Especially not after the pain and anguish she saw in him yesterday when she found him in the wreck he had created. She just wishes that she could find something that would tell her why he's even there.

He follows the hall all the way down to where it splits off in separate directions. He pauses for just a second, then heads off down the right. She takes the same path, glancing at the paintings lining the crimson walls on the way. They're all dated, and dusty, and none of them are still hanging back home. Probably for the best considering the number of fights, and magic mishaps, and vamp-speeding in the corridors. The man pauses in front of her again just halfway down the corridor. 

"This isn't working," he mutters to himself as Josie carefully steps up beside him. He shakes his head, visibly chewing the inside of his cheek as his eyes do a sweep around him. "I need something else. A better distraction. What's a good distraction from an eternity alone?"

His face lights up, his eyes widening.

"A movie!" he exclaims, the sudden rise in volume catching Josie by surprise. "Yeah, yeah, that's good. Okay, what have I already watched? Uh..."

He starts off down the hallway again, at a quicker pace this time. Josie follows uncertainly, frowning and yet unable to keep her mouth from curving up the tiniest bit as she listens to him ramble off a list of the movies he's already managed to get his hands on and how he felt about them. She would consider it crazy to be talking so openly to himself like he is if she didn't think that she would probably do anything to fill the silence of an entire world as well.

She follows him the rest of the way down the hall, down the stairs, and around the corner, back towards the lounge. One of them, anyway. He moves straight for the slightly disorganized stack of DVD's near the fireplace, starting to rifle through them the second he drops to his knees.

She smiles a little, lingering for just a moment. She has to remind herself she's there for a reason. With one more look over at the man, she forces herself to move away from him and cross the room. The kitchen seems to be a place he spends most of his time by the looks of it considering the slight mess; there are boxes of pancake mix left out, alongside the half-eaten result, and opened boxes that she's guessing contained pizzas he's already finished.

All that it really tells her is that he and Lizzie both share a love for blueberry-strawberry pancakes topped with almonds and a drizzle of whipped cream. Of course, Lizzie always has to sneak the whipped cream on since she's lactose intolerant and will claim a hatred for all things dairy when confronted, calling even the accusation absurd.

Deciding that his choice of snack probably isn't what she's looking for, she takes in the rest of the room. She's careful to keep the ascendant clutched in her hand as she walks slowly in. She can't help but notice how much smaller it seems. It was definitely one of the areas that her Mom and Dad expanded on when renovating. 

She shifts her attention to the newspaper sitting discarded on the top of the island. It has the same date as it did when Lizzie found it on their first visit. February 17th, 2018. She pushes down the bitter twist in her stomach this time, but she can't help but feel betrayed somehow.

This man must have been roaming free — a member of her family was out in the world while she was alive — and yet her Mom and Dad never told her or Lizzie. She could have known him, she could have gotten to know more about her family. Maybe he wouldn't even have ended up trapped.

She reads the headlines on the front. One talks about mysterious disappearances, and the big bold one in the middle talks about a warehouse filled with over five dozen corpses strung up on cattle hooks from the ceiling being discovered just outside of Mystic Falls. She does her best to push away even the thought of that, not giving her mind the chance to imagine.

Pressing on, she looks away from the newspaper. The man's voice is still drifting in from the lounge as he tries to decide on a movie. By the sounds of it, it's a choice between a horror and a romance. She smiles to herself and shoots a cautious glance back through before concentrating and reaching out for the drawer beside her. Her hand comes in contact with it and she manages to pull it open with a sigh of relief. He doesn't seem to notice.

She's met with another disorganized mess, this time of various objects and items, some loose pieces of paper. She's guessing that has something to do with twelve years of isolation and boredom, not to mention the frustration.

Beginning to rifle through them, she's careful not to make too much noise. Hopefully he's too distracted for his vamp-hearing to kick in. Then again, if he heard her and found things magically moving in a previously closed drawer, he might just think he's finally losing his mind.

She lifts the pieces of paper, glancing over them to find that they're just torn out pages of various books that are probably scattered around the house somewhere. Underneath are a few random items; a handful of pins, a chain of some sort, some disfigured-looking ring that has just a hint of lapis lazuli poking through where it seems to have been crushed.

"Didn't take you for the chick flick kinda guy, Damon," the man says, clear even from the other room. She smiles a little more, her eyebrows twitching as she silently disagrees with him, moving aside a pen and a stapler. "Ah, this one was probably Caroline's. She was always into that cheesy kind of stuff — not I blame her. It sounds like a real heartbreaker."

Josie goes still, her chest tightening. She couldn't have heard him right. And even if she did, maybe it's a different Caroline. A different Caroline that just so happens to have lived in Mystic Falls, known Damon Salvatore, and stayed in his house enough times to have possibly left a DVD. Entirely implausible and maybe unlikely, but not—

"'_Me Before You,'_" he reads out. "Huh. Alrighty then."

Josie's heart leaps into her throat. _Me Before You_ is her mom's favourite movie. She's made them watch it countless times, and she cries during every rewatch. There's no way it's a coincidence. 

She tries to tell herself to relax. Think clearly. So, her Mom did know him. And she did lie about their relatives all being dead. She supposes that being trapped in a prison world forever is as good as dead, and he is technically undead what with probably being a vampire. But she still looked her in the eyes and gently explained that she has no other relatives.

Josie squeezes her eyes shut as she shakes her head. If her Mom knows who he is, she could ask her about him. Except that would also mean telling her how she even knows who he is. The photos. She could easily say she found the box in her dad's office and just wants to know more about the man in the photo. 

She curses internally. That would just give her mom a perfect opportunity to lie without worry. She would have no idea that Josie knows where he is and that he's actually alive and not dead like she and her Dad told her he should be, therefore making it too easy for her to just brush him off as some random, dead relative.

"Damn it," she mutters under her breath.

She doesn't think. She pushes the drawer closed with a little too much force. Something dislodges from where she had forgotten to put it back properly and it cracks. Josie's heart stops, her stomach quickly dropping.

She looks down in panic and alarm at the pen now laying on the ground, broken in half and leaking ink. All sound from the lounge stops. Josie stays completely still, just barely lifting her eyes to look at the doorway in fear. She expects footsteps. Maybe some more muttering.

The air around her shifts in the blink of an eye, and she quickly collects it into her lungs as she presses her lips tightly together. The man appears in the doorway out of thin air, standing there and staring down at the broken pen with furrowed eyebrows.

His eyes shift around cautiously, searching. Josie doesn't know why, but she goes to take a step back. Her hand moves along the edge of the counter as she goes, the other gripping the ascendant tightly. The incantation to take her back is on the tip of her tongue, ready to get herself the hell out. 

The man seems to deem his surroundings safe. His eyes move back to the broken pen and he frowns, the suspicion written into his features. She can't help but think that it seems natural. He steps forward, taking quick strides. Josie takes another step back as he bends down next to the pen, just staring at it with an unreadable look on his face. She breathes out carefully.

"_Okay_," he says slowly, drawing the word out as he raises his eyebrows a little. "That's weird. But sure."

He picks the pen up, ignoring the ink still slowly leaking out of it, already leaving behind a small pool of it on the floor. He twists it between his fingers, eyeing it curiously as he pauses. He gives a hum of nonchalance, seemingly unfazed. This is her chance. She can go, right now. 

Josie quickly moves to step back again, her lips already parting to mutter the incantation as quietly as she can. Her hand knocks into something on the island and her foot catches on the edge of the table that she had definitely thought was much further away. 

The plate that had been lying idle on the island slides back and off the edge with a loud crash as it hits the ground. It shatters into chunks, pieces flying up. Josie jumps forward, away from it, but she loses her grip on the ascendant as the man jumps to his feet, wide-eyed and alert.

It goes tumbling out of her hands, and for a heart-stopping moment, Josie thinks she's about to watch it break into pieces just like the plate. It hits the ground and rolls but doesn't break.

Josie would breath out a sigh of relief, but she can't bring herself to even blink. The man's now looking around the room, shaking his head as his mouth stretches up humourlessly. The ascendant comes to a stop, hitting gently against his foot. 

He stops. Josie's eyes widen impossibly more and she can't breathe now. He slowly looks down. A beat passes as Josie desperately wants to lunge and scoop it back up, confusion passing over his face. 

Then he's letting out a low sigh that quickly turns into a laugh as he resumes shaking his head. He lifts his head, looking around the room again. Hatred and anger beyond a point Josie's ever seen flickers in his eyes like bright flames, practically reflecting the emotions back to her. 

Her chest tightens as her fingers scrape her palms then stretch back out again. She keeps her mouth firmly closed for fear that even the quietest of noises will somehow make it through the spell. It would be so easy to pull herself back out, and yet, she can't bring herself to do it. 

"Oh," the man breathes out into his laughter, his eyes darting all around the room, "I'm not alone, am I? No, someone's here. I can feel it."

Josie has to swallow down the lump in her throat. It only makes the nausea worse as she watches him. He takes a slow, deliberate step, turning on the spot.

"You know, I felt it a few days back as well — a couple of times, actually," he continues, and raises his shoulders in a shrug, "but I just assumed it was nothing. The isolation part of this world tends to play tricks with your hearing, especially when it's as sensitive as mine. You'd think I'd be used to it by now considering, but even I'm not immune to the odd bout of insanity."

Josie glances at the ascendant. That must mean he can't see it. Surely he would have said something about it otherwise. 

"The question is — well, there are two of them." He holds up his hands, pausing as he raises his eyebrows. "Who exactly is it that's decided to pay me a visit after twelve years, and what horrible thing happened to make you so _stupid_? I mean—" he laughs again, turning slightly, "—no one in their right mind would be here right now. Well, I'm guessing you're not really _here-_here or else I would have already seen you. I have great vision."

She could grab it. It would take two seconds for her to get it and say the incantation. She could be back in her room, where she really is right now, safe and sound. Just two little steps forward. She glances between it and him.

He continues to slowly turn, taking another step closer to the middle of the room as that smile doesn't slip from his mouth. It's unsettling and it's safe to say that she's on edge.

"Let's see, how about, I guess a bunch of people you could be and you knock something over if I get it right," he suggests with a mischevious playfulness that would seem totally innocent on his young features if Josie couldn't still see the seething flames behind his eyes. 

He spreads his hands out, pausing as he raises his eyebrows a little more. 

"Sound good? Great! Oh, this is gonna be fun. Alright."

He clears his throat, taking on an exaggerated look of thought before sticking one finger up into the air.

"I mean, obviously my first guess has to be Bonnie," he says with a roll of his eyes. His tone is hopeful in a way that makes Josie's skin crawl and her desire to leave all that much stronger. "Have you come back to check up on me? See how your old friend's doing? I get that we have that super complicated and incredibly messy history, but I would totally understand if you wanted to see how I'm doing, and I really hope we can work past things."

He glances around when he's met with silence, Josie not daring to move an inch. His face falls slightly, and that anger pushes to the front. At least now she can guess who it's being reserved for. Her Aunt Bonnie. That's another question she has to add to the pile now.

"No?" He pouts. "Damn, I was really hoping I was right with that one. Whoever you are — could you tell dear Bon-Bon that I could really use a visit from her? You know, I think it would just really lift my spirits, give me something to hold onto for the next forever."

Josie makes her decision. She takes a small step towards the ascendant. It's close, but not quite enough. Cautious and now aware of her own every move, she carefully lowers herself. If she just—

"Alright, I get two more guesses, how about that?" he calls out into the open air and she snatches her hand back. "Sound fair? Alright, let's think, let's think. Who would want to spy on me, especially when it's been so long? Not Damon, he's probably moved on. Lily? No, probably dead. Oh!"

His eyes widen, his face lighting up with excitement that's masking his true, darker emotions underneath. 

"Alaric, is that you?" he asks, almost teasingly as he tilts his head.

Josie freezes again. He knows her dad. Not just her mom, but her dad as well. They both lied. She figured as much, but hearing it confirmed for her is like a stab to her chest. Or maybe more like twisting the knife in deeper after throwing salt into the wound.

"I get it," he continues, waving his hands vaguely, "there was a bit of bad blood between us and all. You hated me, I wanted to be a member of the family, you rejected me. It happens! Especially when you're me. But, you know, I would love to finally make amends with you. I'm a changed person — and I'm not just saying that. Really, I think we'd get along really well now."

Josie can't even begin to process anything he's saying. Her dad hated him? He rejected him from the family? What does that even mean? There's no way that he was a part of him getting trapped, she doesn't believe that for a second. But her head's spinning and she isn't sure what's going on.

The man drops his hands to his sides with a disappointed and bordering on irritated huff of an exhale. "Really? Wow, okay. So, not Bonnie, and not Alaric. Who does that leave?"

He hums in thought, frowning. Josie decides to make her break while she has the chance. She stretches her arm right out, hooks the Ascendant into her hand and squeezes her eyes shut as she quickly forces the incantation past her lips.

Within the blink of an eye, the air twists around her, and her stomach turns over itself. She quickly opens her eyes again. The relief hits her like a swing to the chest, knocking the air back into her at the sight of the garden laid out in front of her from where she's still hidden under the archway over a path around the back of the school.

Her head's still spinning, and she's really not sure how long it's going to take to get rid of the nausea that's bubbling in the pit of her stomach and itching the back of her throat. She leans back against the wall, welcoming the feeling of the bricks pressing into her back. 

That was way more than she was expecting. She thought she might be able to find some sort of clue that could potentially lead somewhere, just a little scrap of information that could lead her to where she needs to be.

Instead, she got a bucket dumped on her, and now she's soaking from head to toe in lies and secrets and things that she doesn't even know how to deal with. Her mom. Her dad. How her aunt Bonnie is somehow involved in this, and her uncle Damon as well. None of it makes any sense. 

A part of her wants to quit right now. It's too much, and she doesn't even know where to begin with it all. But if she did that, it would almost feel like giving up. Her stomach turns and the bitter taste rises in the back of her throat. She can't give up on this. They might have six years until they turn twenty-two, but the sooner they can find a way to stop it, the less they have to worry about.

She pushes away from the wall, her eyes moving down to the ascendant. She's glad to see that it's definitely not broken. That would have been a major problem and hard to explain to Lizzie. Even with all of the new information.

"There you are!"

Josie looks up, her eyes widening as Lizzie marches toward her. It registers somewhere in her brain that the flames of anger burning in her eyes are now scarily familiar for more reasons than one. 

"Are you actually insane?" Lizzie asks, gesturing to the ascendant as she stops in front of her. "First of all: what happened to yesterday, and you saying that you'll definitely, absolutely, never again use the ascendant unless we both agreed on it? And — bringing it out here? Do you want dad to find out or something?"

"Lizzie, just listen for a second, please," Josie quickly says, holding her other hand up pleadingly. 

"I have been listening to you!" Lizzie exclaims, her exasperation slipping through. It's the hurt that has Josie pulling back in shock. "For months now! Even when I was in Europe with Mom, every text, every letter, every magical call; I listened to every word you said. I didn't want to be a part of any of this, but I could see how much it meant to you, so I went along with it the second I got back here and you shoved all of this onto me."

Josie blinks, staring at her. Her lips part as she starts to shake her head, going to speak, but Lizzie beats her to it.

"I was ready to just ignore this and hope that Mom could find a solution, but you wanted me to help. And yet, now that I am, you're going behind my back! I have been doing everything you have asked of me, even when I didn't think it was a good idea. But for some reason, you seem to think that we're the ones on opposite sides!"

Josie shakes her head again, her stomach flipping. "Lizzie, that's not—"

"I am doing all of this for you!" Lizzie quickly says, gesturing at her desperately as if in a last attempt to make her understand. "Look, I know you don't want to hear this, but we both know who is going to win if we have to merge."

The nausea rises again. Josie tries to push it down, pressing her lips together.

"Don't," she says quietly, but she can barely hold her eyes for longer than a second. "Don't go there right now, Lizzie."

"See? You don't want to hear it. But, Jo," Lizzie tilts her head, her voice softening, "you're the one who would survive this thing if it really came down to it. That's assuming it would even work the right way at all. But — that's why I'm doing this. For you. Because you don't want this, and I don't want you to be unhappy. I just don't get why you're making us enemies or something when all I'm trying to do is — is help and put an end to this, and—"

She's flailing, and Josie can see it. The thread's been pulled taut for too long. She can't believe she hadn't noticed, but she can see it now. It unravels, the quick descent into a downward spiral. 

Josie steps forward on instinct and pulls Lizzie to her. The abruptness of it has Lizzie cutting herself off, falling quiet. She pauses, then her arms wrap around her, hugging her tightly. Josie's careful of the ascendant but ignores it for the most part. She feels Lizzie press her face into her shoulder, pulling herself back from teetering on the edge.

A beat passes in silence, and neither of them let go. Josie can't bring herself to. It's a comfort that she didn't know she herself needed. It's soothing and familiar, and it's making her eyes sting a little. She chews the inside of her cheek as she inhales, staring at a little fleck in the ground. 

"I'm scared," she admits quietly, the two words muffled slightly by Lizzie's shoulder. "I don't know what's gonna happen, and I keep thinking that if I'm not around you, maybe I can't hurt you..."

Lizzie goes still for a second, pausing as she digests Josie's words. Then she relaxes again and her arms tighten that little bit more.

"I know," she replies softly, "I get it. I'm scared, too. Freaking terrified, actually. But..." she swallows, and Josie understands the feelings that are hitting her all at once, "...we'll figure this out. Okay? Like we've been doing, but...just a bit better, because honestly, our teamwork skills surprisingly suck."

Josie laughs, unable to help herself. It's slightly off and sounds oddly as if she's on the verge of crying, as does Lizzie's as she joins in, both slightly muffled. She pulls back, swallowing, and trying hard to blink back the blur in her eyes. Lizzie smiles at her.

"I'm sorry," Lizzie says with a slight shake of her head. "I didn't..."

"I know," Josie says, her mouth curving a little. "I'm sorry. I didn't either."

Lizzie's smile widens at that and she ducks her head, hiding her face. She raises her arm, trying to discreetly swipe her sleeve across her eyes while Josie does the same with the palm of her hand. It draws Lizzie's attention to her other hand. She glances up between the ascendant and her before nodding her head at it reluctantly.

"So, did you get anything from that?" she asks, looking away and shrugging as she folds her arms. The epitome of nonchalance and acting airy is clearly what she's going for. She just misses the mark.

Josie nods, her lips twitching. "Yeah, I did. A lot, actually."

Lizzie perks up. She lifts her head and looks back at her, her curiosity barely disguised underneath her features. "Really? What was it?"

"Well, for starters, I think I might have an idea on where that missing page you were looking for is," she says, and Lizzie drops the act right away, her eyes widening. She smiles, motioning her head to the side. "Come on, I'll tell you everything. We're better when we work together."

Lizzie doesn't even bother to hide her joy at that. She nods eagerly and falls into step with Josie as they walk up the path leading to the school, and she listens as Josie recounts everything that happened inside the prison world. Lizzie was right.

They need to be together on all of this. It affects both of them, no matter what way she looks at it, and she can't let her fear of what might happen get in the way. If their mom and dad are going to continue to lie and keep things from them, then they at least need to be on the same page with each other.

* * *

The plane is quiet now that they've been in the air for a good few hours and they're surrounded by the dark sky. It would be just what Caroline needs to drift into a peaceful sleep, which she's starting to want to do, if Elena's silence wasn't worrying her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," she says quietly, turning her head to look at her, seated by the window. She shakes her head, closing her eyes when Elena looks at her in confusion. "I know that it was easier for Damon or Alaric, or even Jeremy to tell you what was going on, but I just assumed that they would have when I should have just told you myself."

"Yeah, and I had so many opportunities," Bonnie chimes in, leaning forward slightly. "I should have figured something was up when you weren't asking if we were coming home sooner because of it all."

Elena shakes her head, turning to look at the two of them better. 

"It's not your fault," she tells them. "I just wish I had known what was going on. I didn't realize things were so bad."

"To be honest, we've been a bit behind as well," Caroline admits. "That's why I just want to get home as soon as possible."

Elena nods in understanding. She reaches over, gently placing her hand on top of Caroline's. She squeezes lightly and smiles at her. Caroline returns it, that piece of her chest warming again. It's so nice to be around the two of them again, especially when the stakes of things are so high.

Bonnie lets out a short laugh that's more of an unamused exhale, careful of her own volume while everyone else around them rests. Caroline and Elena both look at her, and she lifts her eyes from her phone.

"Apparently Damon says that he didn't mention it because he was trying to protect you."

"Yeah right," Caroline scoffs as Elena raises her eyebrows. "We already figured out long ago that keeping things from each other is a great way to end up dead in Mystic Falls. _Again_."

"He says that you seemed to be doing better," Bonnie continues, glancing at Elena. "With your clinic and everything. He says that you finally seemed happy again after everything, and he didn't want to drag you back into it all. It didn't feel right."

Caroline wants to scoff again, but she can't quite bring herself to, the noise getting stuck in the back of her throat. She falters, looking at Elena as Bonnie lowers her phone. A small smile is settled on her lips, partially sad, but an unreadable look on her face. Caroline presses her lips together. She shares a look with Bonnie, understanding passing between them. 

"I guess I can see why he didn't tell me," Elena says, nodding lightly. She lifts her eyes to look at them and gives a half shrug. "He was right. I was happy — I am. Even now, just being here with you guys again, I'm still happy. And...honestly, I'm glad I heard it from you two."

Caroline smiles, and Bonnie does, too, though she glances back down at her phone, her fingers moving over the keypad to type out a reply. Caroline squeezes Elena's hand gently.

"Does that mean that I can tell him he doesn't have to hide from you when we get back?" Bonnie suddenly asks, raising her eyebrows a little as she looks back up at Elena.

"Oh no, I'm still going to kill him," Elena replies without missing a beat. "And Alaric. Maybe Jeremy as well since he's been there recently and didn't bother to mention any of this to me."

"Look out Mystic Falls," Caroline jokes, "you've pissed off the doppelganger."

Elena rolls her eyes but laughs softly, Bonnie joining in and forcing Caroline to do the same. It feels good. Like old times, back home, when they would whisper at the back of the classroom to each other and burst into fits of giggles until they were told to be quiet or go to detention. They would usually find a way around it while still annoying the hell out of whatever teacher they had.

They're interrupted by a faint buzzing noise. They all look at Bonnie's phone, but the screen is still black. It takes Caroline a second to realize it's coming from her own pocket. She quickly pulls out her phone. The screen's lit up with Alaric's name as it continues to buzz in her hand.

She hesitates, sucking in a breath. Technically, she could get away with not answering. She is on a plane after all, and for all he knows, the signal could be bad or it might not have WIFI. But it might be important. It might be about the girls, or the school, or maybe something even worse has happened. She catches Elena and Bonnie eyeing her worriedly. Swiping her thumb along the screen, she holds her phone up to her ear, closing her eyes as the call connects.

"Hey," she greets softly, rubbing a hand across her forehead. She can already feel the pressure building up behind her eyes. "Did you get my text earlier?"

"Hey, yeah, I did," he says, his voice quiet. She can hear the strain in it, the exhaustion. "Are you sure? You really want to go out and hire someone we've never met before to run the school? Because, I could take my job back if you're really not feeling up to it. The owner is the mother of my children after all."

He throws in a chuckle at the end, but it doesn't quite land and fades off into silence. Caroline shakes her head to herself.

"No, that — that wouldn't be a good idea," she says honestly. "I think this is what's best for the school right now. For the students. They need someone they can rely on and trust. We're not up to being either of those right now. We have too much to worry about as it is."

Alaric sighs on the other end, and Caroline wants this to be over. 

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he agrees, but she can hear it. Resentment. It's hidden and small, but it's there. "Well, are you sure about this guy? Vardemus? We've never even met him. I know you're on your way home, so why don't we just talk about this when you get here, and maybe Dorian can look for someone in the meantime."

Caroline internally winces and squeezes her eyes shut further.

"I'm gonna be another day or two," she confesses. "It's just that — we're finally getting somewhere, and I think we might actually be close. We're just flying back to New Or—"

"You said you were going to try and be home before the break ends," he cuts her off, and she swallows, hearing the rising irritation in his voice as well now. "You promised the girls. And me."

"I know," she says guiltily, the feeling clawing at her chest. "And I will. There are still four days left. Like I said, we're on our way to New Orleans right now, and once we do what we have to there, we should be—"

"Wait, what do you mean you're on your way to New Orleans? I thought you were already there."

"We were," she quickly says, "but the lead in New Orleans sent us to New Zealand. I was going to tell you, but we got there late, and we fell asleep, and then we spent pretty much the entire day with — it doesn't matter, but we just have to go to New Orleans, and we'll be on our way home after tomorrow."

"You didn't even bother to tell me you went to New Zealand?" He scoffs. "That's great. So, I'm over here dealing with the school that you abandoned, which — I just got fired from by our students, and you're off taking trips to New Zealand without bothering to shoot me so much as a text to update me."

Caroline rubs a little more forcefully at her head as if it'll rid her of the slight ache as she tries to ignore that Bonnie and Elena are still right beside her and can hear every word she's saying.

"I told you I would once we got more information," she says slowly. "That's why I texted you at the airport a couple of hours ago. I mentioned that we had to go somewhere else and that we were on our way back to New Orleans. I promise, once we land and we've talked to—"

"Do you even want to come home?"

The question makes Caroline freeze. She goes quiet, her eyes flying open. Her mouth stays open, the words hanging in the air as she tries to process what he just said to her. She stares at the backs of the seats in front of her in confusion, shaking her head slowly to herself.

"What? Of course I do, Ric, what do you—"

"We both know you wanted to travel the world, Caroline," he says, the anger in his voice rising along with her confusion. "You always said it. You never asked to have Lizzie and Josie. Maybe you're just avoiding coming back here because it's just not what you want anymore, and you're having such a great time out there."

"Alaric, don't do this," she says, her voice low and her head starting to hurt. "Not right now. It's not the time."

She does hear him scoff this time. "Yeah, it never is," he says bitterly. 

"I'm on a freaking plane right now," she hisses, unable to stop herself. She pulls herself back, closing her eyes again. "You're clearly upset, and I'm tired. I am not having this conversation with you right now. I have eight hours to go until I land. I'll text you once I know more. Don't bother calling me again until then unless it's an emergency or is about the girls."

She pauses for a response. A beat passes in silence. The call cuts off and she lowers her phone slowly, taking in a deep breath. Her heart's racing uncomfortably and her head hurts more than it already did from all of the travelling and lack of sleep as well as the shortage on blood.

She switches her phone to aeroplane mode like Elena warned her she should when they first sat down and slips it back into her pocket. The conversation's already replaying in her mind. She can't believe him.

He thinks she doesn't want to come home? That she's just making up excuses to stay away longer? She thought they had gotten past this years ago after they broke off the engagement. She thought that they were in a better place after Klaus. At least a more stable, trusting place.

She sinks into her seat, only to become acutely aware of the two sets of eyes on her. Bonnie and Elena don't even pretend to hide their concern when she looks at the two of them. 

"That was...a lot," Bonnie says gently, raising her eyebrows slightly. "Are you okay?"

She sighs, dropping her head back against the seat.

"Honestly?" She shakes her head. "Not even a little bit. He is a total ass. Of course I want to go home! What does he think I'm doing out here, having a nice little vacation, starving myself and losing days of sleep trying to track down these stupid leads?"

"Offence taken," Kol calls back to her quietly from the seat in front of them. 

She rolls her eyes. Elena reaches back out for the hand she had been holding before Caroline had taken the call, and squeezes gently, reassuringly. It works a little bit, bringing her a small warmth of comfort.

"Alaric doesn't know what he's talking about," Elena tells her. "He's stressed, and angry that he's out of a job, and he probably just doesn't know how to deal with everything. He's never been the best at that."

Bonnie snorts. "Tell me about it. I chased him around Amsterdam because of how bad he is at dealing with things. And then we accidentally released a bunch of centuries-old vampire souls into the world along with a crazy hunter who's one urge is to kill them."

Caroline can't help but manage a small smile as Elena chuckles, her eyebrows shooting up. It still always seems to surprise her to hear about the things that happened when she was in her magic-induced coma. 

"I guess you're right," Caroline agrees, because she knows they are.

It's always been that way, since they met Alaric. In fact, that's the whole reason they met him in the first place. She doesn't blame him for any of it, as much as she's sure she wants to. She understands what he's feeling, and she wants to be able to be there for him, but it's just not how things work.

She shakes her head, sighing again as she stares straight up. "I just wish our conversations didn't always seem to end the same way. No matter what, it's always an argument. I just... for once, I want simple. Can't we do simple?"

Bonnie nods, and she and Elena exchange a look, both smiling. She takes Caroline's other hand, lacing their fingers together.

"We can do simple," she says. Her head tilts. "After tomorrow. Convincing Freya might not be easy."

"Yeah, I'm still passing on that one," Elena says, craning her neck around slightly to look at the two of them. "You guys can do the convincing another Mikaelson to help out thing, I still have to meet up with Jeremy. But, we'll try and catch you after if we can?"

Caroline nods. "Definitely. You're not escaping us again."

"Good, now will the three of you bloody well go to sleep?" Kol chimes in again, turning to look at them over the tops of the seats this time. "You said no talking, and if you don't be quiet, you're going to wake Davina. And I get hungry when sleep-deprived."

He makes a point of raising his eyebrows and running his tongue over his teeth after the last part, eyeing the three of them individually. There's almost a sharp glint of a fang, Caroline thinks, but it's hard to tell in the dim lights of the plane.

Caroline sighs but says, "alright, we'll stop now. I am actually tired anyway, so, we should probably get some sleep before we land. I don't feel like risking my life while on the verge of passing out."

Elena and Bonnie both agree, and Kol smirks.

"Wise choices, darlings." He then disappears from view, settling back into his seat.

The three of them exchange amused smiles and looks. Things really have changed if they're merely laughing at Kol's threats while knowing they're going to be stuck on a plane with him for another eight hours or so. Caroline can say she's glad about that. She's hoping a few more things will change for the better after tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're finally getting somewhere!! Maybe not Caroline and Alaric... but Lizzie and Josiear certainly learning more. Do you have any thoughts on this chapter or what's going to happen next? They now have a name for the prison world man, and they're back on the same page, anything could happen now, really! ❤


	12. Probably because it's about to get worse

"So, we know three things," Josie says quietly with her fork paused halfway to her mouth, the piece of pancake skewered on it threatening to drip cream. 

Lizzie hums and nods for her to go on as she chews her own. She throws a subtle glance around them and, just to be sure, leans in a little closer to listen. More people have been returning over the past few days as the summer break comes to a close, and even though they're not quite back to their usual full capacity, the study hall is still packed with enough people enjoying breakfast for them both to be cautious. 

"We have an uncle named Malachai," Josie starts, lifting one finger away from her fork. "Who is still alive, despite everything we've been told about our family, and is currently trapped in a prison world, but we don't know why."

Lizzie nods again and swallows. "Yes, and by the looks of it, he was for sure Jo's twin. There's no way he wasn't."

"We also know that he somehow knows mom and dad," Josie continues, her eyebrow knitting together, "which means that they obviously had some reason not to tell us that we have an uncle who's still alive."

"Oh, and he knows Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Damon" Lizzie chimes in, lifting a finger up. "Which clearly just makes this even more confusing. I mean, I get that mom is, like, besties with both of them, but what do they have to do with this?"

"Maybe we should ask Stefanie," Josie jokes, looking back down at her pancakes as she finally eats the piece on her fork and goes to stab at another. 

It takes her a moment to realize Lizzie's gone quiet. She should have scoffed and rolled her eyes and told her she's crazy. That's Lizzie's typical response to anything Stefanie Salvatore related. Josie lifts her eyes back up to find Lizzie staring at her, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open. The look on her face is all too familiar.

"No," she says, widening her own eyes as she rushes to finish swallow. "_No_, Lizzie ― I was kidding."

"But it could be exactly what we need to do," Lizzie says as she leans further across the table. "As much as I hate to say it, that bitch might know something that we don't."

"We can't just go up to her and ask her if she knows about our uncle who's trapped in a magical prison world," Josie counters incredulously. It should really be something she doesn't have to say. 

Lizzie opens her mouth more to protest but Josie holds her stare, shaking her head. She falters, and right away, resorts to her default look when things aren't going her way. She pulls out the pleading puppy eyes as she pushes her bottom lip out just that bit in a pout.

Josie's eyes dart around them for just a second, aware that they're still in the middle of the hall and surrounded by at least thirty people. It's not exactly quiet, a hum of chatter and laughter floating through the room, easily disguising their voices.

"Lizzie," she says slowly when she deems it almost positively safe, "we can't do that. Stefanie doesn't know about us. She thinks we're just spoiled rich kids, like everyone else in this town. If you start asking her about magic, you could make her suspicious."

"Or she'll think we're just crazy as well as spoiled and rich," Lizzie argues as if she's just given some great point that's going to change Josie's mind. Clearly, she thinks it's going to work. 

Josie just stares at her. Lizzie sighs, her shoulders dropping.

"Would you at least consider it?" she asks. "For all know, she's the only one who has the key piece of information that we need to put an end to this nightmare. And we won't ever be able to if we don't talk to her."

"Give me one example of how you would start the conversation," Josie says, waving a hand at her as she places her fork down. She's getting a feeling she's not going to get to finish her pancakes anytime soon. 

Lizzie's face brightens and she immediately sits up a little straighter. A thoughtful look settles on her face.

"Okay, okay. Uh, I would say...hey, Stefanie. Can I ask you a quick question? No insults, I swear." She flashes Josie a mischevious grin at that, pausing for a moment. "But out of curiosity, have you ever heard the name Malachai? I think he might have been a friend of your dads."

Josie raises her eyebrows. "And what if she refuses to tell you anything and asks why you want to know about one of her dad's possible friends?"

"Easy," Lizzie shrugs, "I would say: I know we have some bad blood between us and all, but this is super important. See, it's not for me. My dad actually wanted to know, but he can't seem to get a hold of your dad to find out. He really needs to get in contact with this Malachai guy, and he thinks your dad might have been the last one to talk to him in person. So, would you happen to have heard the name from, say, your dad? Or anyone else?"

Josie pauses as a proud look takes over Lizzie's features. She tries to think of a way around it, a loose string in her answer that she can pull at. But even she has to admit, it was pretty good. Maybe even believable. Except for the part where Lizzie would manage to go the length of the conversation without insulting Stefanie once. 

"Maybe it's not the worst idea," she says slowly.

Lizzie's face lights up once more. "So, we can do it?"

Josie hesitates. The image of Stefanie just flat-out rejecting any question from Lizzie is still playing on her mind. They've never had one civil conversation in the entire time they've known each other.

Lizzie likes to blame it on the fact that Stefanie is childish and immature seeing as how she's two years younger, but Josie has a feeling it's more to do with the fact that she ended up in the same grade as them despite that and still gets to play in the football games. And the fact that Stefanie refuses to take her insults or snipes and always has one ready to fire back at her.

"I think I should be the one to talk to her," Josie says. "We already talked a few days ago at the practice game, and she seems to trust me a bit more than she trusts you, so I might be able to get her to tell me the truth."

"What did you talk about?" Lizzie asks, her expression a mixture between suspicion and curiosity. 

"Just her mom," Josie answers with a shrug. "Apparently she travels a lot and she won't be home in time for when she said she would be. Sound familiar?"

Lizzie does her best to mask her surprise, and maybe even a little sympathy. She pulls back slightly, looking down at the table as if in an attempt to avoid Josie's pointed stare. She's unsuccessful either way.

"Who is her mom anyway?" Lizzie asks, clearly looking for a subject change as her voice takes on that snippy tone. "We're always seeing Uncle Damon but we've literally never met Stefanie's mom. Maybe she just travels a lot so that she doesn't have to spend so much time with her."

"Would you say that about mom?" Josie asks. Lizzie gapes at her, but Josie brushes her off. "I know you wouldn't. Mom loves us, and she wants to come home. I'm sure Stefanie's does, too. But as for who exactly her mom is, I don't know. Uncle Damon has never mentioned anyone."

"Maybe she's involved as well," Lizzie says, nodding as if positive she's right. She's clearly joking as she stabs at her pancakes. "That's probably why she travels a lot. Hey, maybe she and mom are travelling together!"

Josie rolls her eyes, but the corners of her mouth quirk up.

"I'll try and talk to Stefanie," she says and lets the subject drop there. "In the meantime, I was thinking about something while I was watching over...Malachai. Yesterday, while I was in there, I was thinking about that page from the Grimoire?"

Lizzie's eyes widen and she's leaning right back over the table, her breakfast ignored once more.

"Did you see it in there?"

"No," Josie says, and Lizzie deflates, leaning back with a look of disappointment. "But I was thinking. There's a chance it's here somewhere, right? I mean, the Grimoire was, so maybe it's still hidden, just in a different place. When we were searching Emma's class, didn't you pull a piece of paper out of one of the drawers? It looked blank, but it seemed too thick to be from a normal book, and it was definitely ripped."

"Oh my god," Lizzie says slowly, her eyes widening again. "That has to be it."

"Well," Josie tilts her head, "no, there's a chance that it's—"

"Josie, we are very much at a dead-end right now in all aspects of our research," Lizzie says, looking her in the eyes. "Let me have this. If I'm proven wrong, so be it, but I vowed to be positive and carefree. You took away my chance to be carefree, so at least let me have what little positivity I have left inside of me."

Josie rolls her eyes and gives her an unamused look. Lizzie doesn't waver though. Josie just holds her hands up in mock surrender, making Lizzie's face light up before she even speaks.

"Fine," she says, "you look into the page, I'll try and talk to Stefanie. I have no idea how I'm actually going to get near her, but I'll figure something out. I might have to see if Landon can help. Maybe he knew her while he was there."

Lizzie hums, nodding as she pops a blueberry into her mouth.

"Good idea, he's great with this stuff," she says, then pauses, and points a finger at her, "but don't tell him too much! We can't afford for anyone else to know what's going on."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Josie assures her. She picks her fork back up as she thinks, already forming a plan in her head. "I might talk to Kaleb first."

Lizzie's head tilts, her eyes narrowing slightly. There's a flicker of something in her eyes that Josie can't quite read past confusion. 

"I saw him talking to Stefanie's uncle at the game," Josie explains as she picks up a piece of her pancake. She lifts her shoulders in a shrug. "Maybe he knows how I can get to her."

"Alright, that's super weird and I suddenly want to know more about Kaleb," Lizzie says, "but sure. Do whatever you need to do. Just get to her, and talk to her. And if you could, once you have all the information, throw in an insult for me? Please?"

Josie rolls her eyes again and goes back to her breakfast, ignoring Lizzie's request. She huffs but doesn't press it. 

* * *

Alaric was at least right about one thing, having clearly learned it from her time as his history student; travelling was always something Caroline wanted to do. See the world, learn about different cultures, really embrace it all. She used to think that it would be fun. Klaus definitely helped with a part of that.

She's definitely changing her mind now that she's finally arrived in New Orleans at seven at night and is running on three hours of sleep. It was a mix between the call with Alaric and the jetlag that made it nearly impossible to switch off on the plane. At least Bonnie, Elena, and Davina all managed to sleep for the last eight hours or so.

She ended up talking to Kol when he leaned over his seat with a sigh to complain about how it was impossible to sleep. They ended up talking about New Orleans, his relationship with Freya, and the school. Weirdly enough, it wasn't as bad as she was expecting it to be. It was actually quite nice.

When they finally step off the plane and out of the airport, the sky's still lined with shades of pink, orange, and a blue that's halfway between day and night. It's another one of those moments that Caroline wishes she could fully appreciate.

But the seconds are ticking by, and they have to go and see Freya, and just standing there is putting a target on her back. Kol's too, she knows, and she's guessing by the way he's glancing around that he isn't too fond of that.

"How far is it to Freya's house exactly?" she asks after Elena has left them, wishing her good luck on finding Jeremy, having already made the plan to meet back up with them at home. 

"Not too far," Kol answers, clearly refusing to give her any more than that. He does pause though, his expression flickering for just a second. "We should probably take the long way. Avoid the French Quarter."

Davina rolls her eyes. "You're with two witches, one who grew up here. I think you're safe."

"I wouldn't like to test your clearly flawless logic by having my brain melted," Kol retorts. "It's not that far. We can walk it from here and be there in about twenty minutes."

"We are actually going to be able to see the house," Bonnie says uncertainly as they start walking, "right?"

"This isn't Harry Potter," Kol says with a roll of his eyes. "Of course you can see it. It just...might be getting inside that's the problem."

"They will invite us in, won't they?" Caroline asks, staring at Kol as the thought just occurs to her for the first time.

None of the people living there are vampires, meaning she'll still have to be invited in. There's a good chance that Freya might not be so up for inviting a random stranger who her brother was apparently in love with for a couple of days into her house.

"I said I would help you, didn't I?" Kol says, brushing off her worries. "I'll get you to Freya, explain the situation, and then...well, we'll figure it out from there depending on her reaction."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Bonnie mutters, leaning in close to Caroline as she eyes Kol. 

He rolls his eyes again, obviously hearing her anyway.

"Don't worry," Caroline says, turning her head to look at her, "it'll be fine. I... trust him. I think. Plus, Davina's here, and I'm pretty sure that I trust her. She seems genuine."

Bonnie makes a noise of agreement as Kol expresses his exasperation but says nothing. They continue to follow his lead despite it, taking the streets he directs them down, even going as far as to tell them which one they're looking for without giving away the one they actually need.

The sky slowly grows darker the longer they walk, and with the night comes an unsettled feeling in the pit of Caroline's stomach. She throws a wary glance over her shoulder every now and then. Davina might have been right about them being safe for as long as she and Bonnie are with them, but she still can't shake the feeling that they're walking right into a trap.

Every vampire agreed to leave New Orleans for a reason; to keep the peace between the factions, to avoid another outright supernatural war. Walking back in is like they're breaking the agreement and just asking the witches to make the first move. Or the second, she supposes.

When Kol stops walking, presumably on the right street at last, Caroline checks the time on her phone. Twenty minutes have passed since they left the airport, just as he said. She hesitates as she stares down at the otherwise blank screen.

No texts. No missed calls or voicemails. She can't tell if she's relieved or not. It'll probably be better for everyone this way.

Pulling herself out of it, she slips her phone back into her pocket and looks over at Kol and Davina. Kol turns slightly, glancing over at them. If Caroline didn't know better, she would say that he actually looks nervous. 

She pretends to ignore that he sucks in a breath before motioning his head towards the house and leaving them to follow after him. She turns her head, catching Bonnie's eyes. They share a look, both raising their eyebrows a couple inches. Bonnie shrugs and waves a hand in his direction.

They make their way after him, Davina just ahead. They slip up the path that's lined with blooming flowers of all colours, vibrant even in the darkness of the moonlight. She brushes the tips of her fingers across, pausing, a small smile forming on her lips in admiration.

She's always wanted a beautiful garden of her own, filled with the prettiest flowers, one of every kind — especially daises — and a little bench that's sheltered by trees on either side, perfect for summer. When she practically went into hiding with Alaric and the twins in Dallas, her garden definitely didn't look like this.

"I wouldn't touch any of them," Davina says quietly, at her side. 

Caroline's eyebrows furrow slightly as she glances back to the flowers in confusion.

"Vincent's protective," she explains, "and powerful. I wouldn't put it past to him to have cursed everything in this garden for strangers or trespassers."

Caroline quickly pulls her hand back. Davina smiles and continues walking, leaving her eyeing the flowers warily. Looks certainly can be deceiving. She's learned that on many occasions. She follows the rest of the path, careful not to accidentally touch any of the flowers or plants on either side of her.

When she reaches Kol, Davina and Bonnie are already there and waiting. With a trace of hesitation, Kol lifts a hand, pauses, then knocks on the door. Rather quietly, too, the sound almost muffled. Caroline's eyebrows knit together.

"Oh thank Christ," Kol breathes out, dropping his hand back to his side. "They don't have the spell up tonight. I'm still recovering from the last one."

"Uh, what spell?" Bonnie asks, glancing at the door as if it's going to shock her

"What happened last time?" Caroline asks warily, the panic slipping into her voice. She's not so sure she actually wants his answer.

Thankfully, he doesn't get the chance to give it. There's a noise from inside the house and Caroline instinctively focuses on it. Quiet footsteps approaching the door, that noise muffled as well. She's getting the feeling that Davina may not have been exaggerating the protectiveness and the power of the people living in the house.

The door opens to reveal a woman. Caroline has no doubt that she's Freya the second she sees her; she's met Rebekah, Esther, and, of course, Klaus. The resemblance she somehow shares with all three of them is too much for her not to notice, and frankly, a little unnerving. How Kol apparently didn't figure out she was related to them when they first met, she has no idea.

She's even got the signature Mikaelson distrustful stare down. Her eyes dart over her, then Bonnie, something flickering in them that she's guessing is the recognition of sensing another witch. Then she takes in Davina and Kol standing next to them and her eyes widen a touch. The distrust slips.

"Kol," she says. "What are you doing here?" Her surprise quickly makes way for the wary glance she throws back at Caroline and Bonnie. "Is something wrong?" 

Caroline would be at least a tiny bit insulted by how pointed the question is. If it were anyone else and not a Mikaelson, a family that she knows has the worst trust issues in all of history, and probably rightly so if she's being fair. Especially after hearing about Dahlia.

"Hello, dear sister, it's lovely to see you, too," Kol says, sarcasm dripping from his voice. 

She just stares at him narrowed eyes as she folds her arms. He sighs, but his expression softens into a more pleading one as he gestures toward them.

"They—_we_—need your help," he tells her. "So, can we talk? Please?"

"Let me make sure I'm getting this right," Freya turns slightly, pointing from underneath her arm, "you show up at my home after two years, with two random strangers, one who is a vampire, by the way, and just expect me to let you in so that you can ask me for help?"

She scoffs, shaking her head. Kol rolls his eyes but one glance at him, and Caroline can tell there's a sliver of guilt that he's trying not to let through. Part of her wants to step back out of the family drama, but she forces herself to stay firmly in place.

"We asked him to bring us here," Bonnie jumps in, making Kol's eyes snap to her. "It's us who need your help, we only asked Kol to tell us where we could find you."

"I'm sorry, but have we ever met before?" Freya asks in confusion, eyeing her then Caroline.

"No," Caroline quickly says, "and I would completely understand if you turned us away right now. But I had to come here and try and convince you to hear us out. I know you don't know me, but you once helped my husband when he was on the run."

Kol does a double-take out of the corner of her eyes.

Freya frowns, faltering. "Your husband?" 

"Yes, Stefan Salvatore," she says, nodding along as she forces herself not to reach for her ring. "He ran into your brother. Klaus. And you gave him the herbs he needed to stay hidden from Rayna Cruz?"

Recognition flickers across Freya's face to Caroline's relief. 

"Stefan," Freya repeats, and gives a small nod, "I remember him. He was Klaus' old boyfriend. He came to me and convinced me to find something that would help him. The herbs were the only thing I was able to come up with."

Caroline falters now, and she exchanges a puzzled glance with Bonnie. "Well, I don't think they were quite—"

"Stefan was a nice guy," Freya continues, ignoring her. "I remember Klaus grieving him for weeks. He mentioned wanting to pay a visit to Stefan's wife in Mystic Falls to see if she was okay."

Caroline's heart clenches and stops, her chest tightening painfully. She hadn't known that. Of course she didn't. He made a deal, and he was never supposed to step foot back inside of Mystic Falls. She can't help but wish that he had come back sooner than when he did. Maybe things would have ended differently.

"I'm guessing that makes you Caroline," Freya says, eyeing her up and down. "I've heard about you."

At this point, she can't say she's surprised. Caroline glances at Davina without really meaning to and catches the look she sends her. It seems like anyone even distinctly involved with the Mikaelsons know about her. She's not entirely sure how to feel about that.

Freya quickly turns her eyes on Bonnie. "Are you one of my sibling's infatuations as well?"

Bonnie's eyes widen, and Caroline can't help but snicker. She quickly covers her mouth with her hand as Bonnie shoots her a glare. She seems to be pretending she can't see Kol grinning brightly as if this is the best day of his life.

"God no," Bonnie says, shaking her head. "No offence to you or anything."

Freya's lips twitch at the corners. "None taken. In fact, you're probably the smartest person here for that."

"She's right," Davina chimes in.

Kol's eyes narrow, moving between her and Freya in disbelief. Caroline would laugh, but Freya's already brushing his half-glare off as she turns away from him. She glances between them all, her expression shifting and flickering. Then she inhales and drops her arms to her sides.

She mutters something under her breath that's just a string of words to Caroline, then waves her hands through the air in front of her in a sharp movement. Caroline pauses, waiting expectantly. She glances around carefully, her eyebrows raising the tiniest bit as nothing changes.

"Protection spell," Bonnie mutters in explanation. "She just took it down. For now, at least."

"Oh," Caroline says, and the realization hits her a second later. That's a good sign.

And sure enough, despite her clear reluctance, Freya says, "come in."

It's aimed at Caroline specifically since it seems that Kol's already been invited in before. She smiles faintly at her as a small gesture of thanks and goes to step forward to accept the invitation.

"Wait," Kol stops her, making her falter as he looks up at Freya with mild suspicion, "where's Keelin and Vincent? They barely like having me here, I highly doubt they're alright with you just inviting us in."

"What are you doing?" Caroline hisses at him. Freya could easily rescind her invitation to even hear them out and put the spell right back up. 

Freya rolls her eyes at him. "They don't hate you, Kol. But if it makes you feel better, Keelin's taken Faye out, and Vincent's gone to the Quarter. Neither of them will be back for at least another hour, so that should encourage you to make this quick."

Kol relaxes. Caroline can't help but wonder what Keelin and Vincent are really like if he's worried about being around them. Then again, by the sounds of it, he isn't exactly at the top of their list of people they like, and that's never good for a vampire against a witch and a werewolf. 

Freya turns away from him and motions her head behind her. Davina is the first to accept her invitation, walking forward with a smile as she passes her in the doorway and receives a warm one in return. 

Caroline glances at Bonnie, sharing a quick look before she follows Davina's lead and moves forward. She's relieved when she doesn't hit some invisible barrier. They all walk into the house, Kol muttering something to Freya as he passes her about how he's sorry. If she responds, Caroline doesn't hear her.

The hallway is lined with framed pictures hung up on the walls, displaying caught moments of Freya, another woman, a man, and a small child. They start from when she was just a baby all the way up to this small, happy-looking toddler that she's guessing can't be older than two years old at most. They're smiling in every single one. A happy family.

A pang of sadness hits Caroline square in her heart, but she gives them a small smile as she passes by. She pauses as the end of the hallway, turning back slightly as she realizes she doesn't actually know which direction she's supposed to go in.

"Go left," Freya says, gesturing, "around the stairs."

Caroline listens, following the hall to the left. For a moment, she hesitates, not seeing anywhere else to go. In front of her is just a wall with no way out except back the way she came. She faces the wall on her right, eyeing it, then takes a hesitant step forward from the instinct trying to tug her backwards. She blinks and steps out into the large living room. Her eyes widen, but she takes a couple more steps inside, looking around slowly. 

"A magical doorway," she mutters to herself, nodding, "that makes sense."

"It's just an illusion charm," Bonnie tells her quietly as Kol, Davina, and Freya enter the room behind her. "It's simple, they're probably just using it to teach it their daughter magic. If she's a witch."

"Yeah, I remember this one from the class back at the school," she says, "Josie kept set firing to the walls by accident."

Bonnie raises her eyebrows, but she smiles. "Glad I must have missed that one."

Caroline makes a noise of agreement as her eyes continue to sweep over the room. She shouldn't be surprised by any of it like she was with Kol since this is her first time meeting Freya, and yet the thought of a Mikaelson actually settling down still throws her. 

As does the plush purple couches opposite each other, a little wooden table in between them. There's a tiny potted plant in the middle of it, evidently thriving as its long stems curl over the edge of the pot, growing up in odd angles as little buds of red, yellow, and blue seem to sprout from them. She doesn't even have to look at Bonnie to know that magic is probably involved somewhere.

"So," Freya takes a seat on the arm of the couch facing the rest of the room, glancing between them all, "why are you here? I'm not exactly the only witch in New Orleans."

"But you are the only living Mikaelson by blood," Bonnie says.

Freya's eyebrows furrow, glancing from her to Kol in confusion. 

"While she was alive, did our dear aunt ever tell you about how she attempted to convince another coven into giving her their firstborns?" Kol asks. "You know, when you started rebelling and saw her for the lunatic she was."

Freya shakes her head slowly, her expression wary just at the mention of Dahlia. Caroline can't help but sympathize with her.

"No," she says. "Dahlia — she was convinced we were the most powerful bloodline and that only she could control our firstborns, but...I don't remember her ever going to another coven."

"It was probably during your little adventure to find us that she did it then," Kol says, more to himself than to her. He sighs, and moves forward, taking a seat on the couch across from her. "You've heard of the Gemini Coven?"

Recognition flashes across her face as Davina joins him. Bonnie doesn't show sign of moving, and so Caroline stays puts at her side. She is trusting Davina, and for the most part, Kol, but at the same time, she can't help but remember his attempts on Jeremy's and Elena's lives. She would rather be by Bonnie's side. 

"Why am I getting a bad feeling about this?" Freya asks.

"Probably because it's about to get worse," Caroline says. 

They explain it to her. As agreed, Kol and Davina do the majority of the talking. It doesn't seem to make Freya feel any better hearing it from them. Her expression barely shifts from a pretty equal mix of shock, confusion, and horror the entire time she's listening to them. 

It turns out, she really had no idea. Caroline can't say that she didn't have her doubts about that the entire way from New Zealand to New Orleans. It's pretty clear now, though, that Dahlia really did do the entire thing behind her back. Apparently she really didn't trust Freya.

Once they're done explaining, silence falls over the room as Freya just sits there, quietly processing it all. Caroline exchanges a look with Bonnie, concern and hope both tugging at her chest from the inside as if tied to her ribs. 

"She really cursed that entire coven?" Freya asks, her eyebrows furrowed and the disbelief slipping into her voice. "I heard about them for years. Half of the witches I managed to talk to thought they were out of their minds for forcing their kids to do that ritual, and the other half tried to avoid talking about them at all out of fear that they would somehow end up cursed as well."

She just stares down at the floor, unable to speak, and Caroline certainly has to agree to at least some degree with the ones who called them crazy. Even with the curse, some members were a little out of their mind with the exception of Jo, Liv, and Luke. And she's not even just thinking of Kai. But she would never have called the entire coven crazy. If anything, she thought they were just scared. And she can see why. 

"That's why we need your help," she says, stepping forward at last and drawing Freya's eyes up to her. "We need to undo that curse, and the only way to do that is with you."

"The one thing I'm not getting is why," Freya says. "I heard the Gemini Coven died out years ago. What difference would undoing the curse now make?"

Caroline hesitates. Even just saying that her kids are wrapped up in this whole mess pains her, and frankly, scares her. The Gemini Coven weren't well-liked people. She has no idea who they managed to turn into enemies over the years, and if any of them happen to still hold a big enough grudge to want to take out the last remaining members.

Davina glances back at her, noticing her concern, and smiles gently in assurance. She then turns to Freya.

"It's her daughters," she explains for her, and Caroline's actually a bit relieved. "The story of how is complicated, but the short version is that her daughters — twins — are the last living members of the Gemini Coven. The rest of the coven managed to delay the curse for them, so that it wouldn't come into play until they were old enough to do the merge. They just turned sixteen, so if we don't undo the curse, in six years, they'll either have to merge or will both die because there isn't a leader."

Caroline turns away slightly, closing her eyes to try and block the thought of that out. She feels Bonnie gently touch her arm, trying to comfort her. All she wants is for this to be over, right now, as simple as that. To wake up and find out that Lizzie and Josie were related to the coven at all. 

Freya breathes out, even the noise one of shock, clearly trying to wrap her head around that. 

"Why are you two involved in this?" Freya asks, directing the question at Kol and Davina with confusion. 

Davina shrug, shaking her head. "They're kids. They need help. It's simple."

Freya seems to accept that answer easily enough, making Caroline think that it really is just Davina's nature and not because they're not total strangers, at least not to her family. She stares at Kol, though, apparently not taking Davina's answer as his. 

Kol hesitates under the scrutiny. His lips part, his mouth stretching up as if going to brush it off with a casual remark, completely flippant about the whole thing. He doesn't get as far as one word as he falters. Freya raises her eyebrows, and even Caroline's looking over at him with curiosity and puzzlement now. 

He glances over at her and Bonnie, his gaze flicking between them. He lingers on Bonnie for just a moment, holding her gaze long enough for Caroline to see something pushing through, forcing its way to the surface. 

"I suppose I want to make things right," he says honestly, catching them all by surprise. He looks away from Bonnie, over to Freya. "Past mistakes and all that. Besides...the children are innocent."

Caroline can't help but stare at him. She thinks for a moment maybe he's only saying it to appeal to Davina, and even Freya, to make himself look good. But she can tell that he's being sincere. The tone of his voice, the way he avoids looking back at her and Bonnie.

"Well...that's..." Freya just shakes her head, a sceptical, equally as puzzled look on her face. 

"Look, Freya, you know I would never ask you to do something that would put you in risk of danger," Kol says, quickly switching track as he leans forward slightly, holding her gaze. "We just need a little bit of your blood to be able to perform the spell, and then we're out of here, I swear."

Caroline listens to the silence in the beat that passes as she rubs at her forehead with the tips of her fingers. She should have called Alaric. She should have at least texted him, or one of the girls, checked up on how everything is. It's been at least eight hours since their call, anything could have happened. 

"No."

Caroline's heart drops into her stomach. She turns back to face the room, staring at Freya, the blood in her veins running cold. She has to have heard her wrong. This can't be happening.

"No?" Kol repeats before she can. He practically scoffs. "Freya, don't you think that's a bit unreasonable? It'll take five minutes and will literally save lives. Children's lives. I promise, we only—"

"I'm coming with you," Freya cuts him off. 

Kol stops, and Caroline blinks. Freya turns her eyes up to Caroline, her expression and voice both far kinder than they had been when greeting her at the door. Still with a touch of that Mikaelson coldness, of course.

"I'll go to Mystic Falls with you," she says, "my blood may be all you need, but I'm willing to bet that it'll be a hell of a lot easier to break this curse with my magic as well. It was a witch from my bloodline who created the curse, so it makes sense if my magic is used to undo it."

"It would definitely give us a better chance if there was two of us doing it," Bonnie agrees, and glances at Caroline, raising a shoulder sightly as if to convince her.

Caroline breathes out in relief. "I would appreciate that so much if you were able to," she says to Freya.

"What are you going to tell Vincent and Keelin, though?" Kol asks, raising his eyebrows. "Because I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be so on-board with this. Especially not now with Faye."

"I'll...think of something," Freya replies, though it's not the most reassuring response. "I'll leave them a note, explain where I've gone, and hope they don't mind me disappearing for a day or two. Keelin goes out of town to help other werewolves every now and then, so it should be fine."

"Are you sure?" Caroline asks in concern. Her family had completely slipped her mind in the moment despite being surrounded by reminders of them. "I would never want to take you away from your family, trust me."

She can't help her eyes sliding to her left, lingering on Bonnie for just a second. The guilt still curls in her stomach at just the thought of what Bonnie's been sacrificing for her all these years. She finally has what she wanted for years. A family. And here she is, pulling her away from them to help her own. She thought that maybe they had really left the past behind them, and yet, it's still the same thing. 

Bonnie catches hee glance. Her expression flickers, but Caroline turns away from her too quickly for her to shoot her that look that that must have some inherent magical ability that makes it impossible not to tell her everything on her mind. 

"I'm sure, really," Freya says, pulling her focus back to her, much to her relief. "Keelin and Vincent will both understand, and Faye will barely notice I'm gone." She looks Caroline in the eyes with a sincerity far beyond Caroline can comprehend from a stranger. "I want to help you and your daughters."

Except, she doesn't feel like a stranger when she says it. It actually makes her think she's heard her voice like that before, the same tone and all. But she knows that's absurd. She can't have met Freya before, she's sure she would have remembered. Caroline nods back, unable to form the right words to express how grateful she is for Freya's help. She seems to understand.

"Are you two going as well?" Freya asks, quickly shifting her eyes between Kol and Davina questioningly. They linger on Davina. "Three powerful bloodlines would give us even better odds."

Kol's mouth opens, stretching up as he holds up a finger.

Davina smiles, and before he can say anything, says, "I agree. That's why we're definitely coming, too."

Kol stops, his eyes snapping to her. He makes a noise like he wants to scoff, and she raises her eyebrows at him as if just daring him to try and argue without coming off as a complete ass. Caroline's honestly not seeing a way that he can, but she would more than understand him not wanting to go. Mystic Falls hasn't exactly been kind to him, and she really doesn't want to force them into helping any more than they already have.

When she goes to say as much, though, Freya catches her eyes and gives a slight shake of her, offering her a hint of a smile. It, too, seems familiar somehow. A tiny spark of recognition goes off in the back of her mind, but she pushes it down as she stays quiet like Freya silently advises.

Davina seems to be winning hers and Kol's silent form of communication, and she's getting the feeling she wouldn't accept any argument Caroline could come up with anyway. Either way, this is really it. They have everything they need to undo the curse. Bonnie, Freya, and Davina will perform the spell, and Lizzie and Josie are the last key elements as siphoners.

Her smile fades as her eyes drift to the floor, something chipping away at her from the inside. What if it doesn't work because they're the only members of the Gemini Coven left? They would be siphoning it from themselves. What if that messes it up and something goes wrong?

She stops. She can't. It would be a terrible idea. It's been years, and to ask something like this when they were never exactly on the best terms is probably completely inappropriate. She might not even have the right number anymore.

So much has changed in the last few years, and Caroline doesn't even have the same phone as she did sixteen years ago, never mind kept the same number, so why should she expect any different of anyone else? The thought refuses to budge from her mind, sticking stubbornly. She knows, though, that she can't afford to leave anything to chance, even if the smallest of details. Especially those ones.

"Hey, are you okay?" Bonnie asks gently, tilting her head as her eyes move over her face in concern.

"Yeah," Caroline says, nodding slowly as she makes up her mind and quickly lifts her eyes to Bonnie's, "I just have to step out for a second and make a call."

Bonnie frowns, a crease appearing between her eyebrows, but Caroline doesn't give her a chance to question her. She instead turns to Freya, whose attention Bonnie's question seems to have caught.

"I'll be right back, I swear, I just have to make this one call really quickly," she says apologetically as she holds her hands up in front of her, pressing them together. 

Freya nods, motioning for her to go ahead. Bonnie still hesitates, and it's obvious she's concerned, but she nods as well, letting go of her arm. Caroline quickly turns and leaves the room.

Her phone's already out of her pocket and in her hand as she moves back down the hallway and opens the front door, stepping outside. She's hit instantly by the downpour of rain that must have started up while they were inside. Trust New Orleans not to get the memo that summer isn't quite over yet. 

Unfazed, she searches through her contacts. She shouldn't even have kept the number. It's weird and makes no sense, and once again, it's been _years_. But if this is the one last thing she needs to ensure Lizzie and Josie get to live past twenty-two, then she's willing to suck it up, put aside how uncomfortable she already is just by searching for the number, and do it.

She stops scrolling. She stares down at the number, trying to will herself to actually call it. What if she doesn't pick up? Or what if someone else does? Or what if she hangs up as soon as she hears her voice?

"Alright, this is okay," she tells herself, and sucks in a deep, shaking breath. "You can do this. Just one little t—oh god."

Her eyes widen as she watches the screen quickly shift as it starts calling the number, having quickly hit call before she could back out. Heart skipping a few too many beats, she takes in another breath, and calms herself down as best she can. She holds the phone to her ear and exhales slowly, her eyes closing. 

With each ring, it feels like a tiny stab of nerves being injected right into her bloodstream, making her insides twist around as if trying to escape from it. The ringing stops. Caroline holds her breath, immediately assuming it didn't go through and she's been cut off. She's waiting expectantly for the "sorry, this number is no longer active" message that shoots down her stupid, terrible, absolutely ridiculous idea.

"Hello?" she hears from the other end, noise suddenly swimming through the little speaker, far clearer than any of it should be.

Caroline's stomach drops at the familiar voice. She tries to swallow down the lump that's pushed its way up into the back of her throat and block out the blood rushing in her ears. Lizzie and Josie. They're what is important right now. Inhaling deeply, Caroline composes herself. 

"Hey, Valerie. It's Caroline." She hesitates as the rain bounces off of the ground and her, soaking her from head to toe as she stares out into the street. "Can we talk? I think I need your help."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ANOTHER OLD FRENEMY BEING DRAGGED INTO THE MESS!! Is anyone excited about Valerie getting involved or am I the only person who's sort of in love with her? And do we think that Stefanie will be of any use? Will their plan fall apart? I would love to hear all of your thought and theories! ❤


	13. Do you plan on bringing back every old enemy and friend you've ever made in Mystic Falls?

Coming up with a good excuse to give to Kaleb when he questions why she's asking him about Stefanie is a lot harder than Josie was expecting it to be. She flailed for a good few seconds, him watching her with raised eyebrows and a weirded-out look all the while. 

Something must have translated, somehow, though, because he rolled his eyes at her, his face splitting into a lazy grin, and said, "all you Saltzman's are terrible liars." It was followed up by him heading back into his room before remerging a minute later with a piece of paper with a number written on it. 

"She's actually gonna be in town in like an hour," he told her, "she's going to some event thing. Don't tell her I told you, though, she'll kill me. Apparently her dad's been extra protective lately and she doesn't want him to know she's sneaking out."

Josie didn't question why he knows that. He gave her exactly what she needed, and she isn't one to pry into people's personal lives. Her problem now is figuring out how to convince her dad to let her go to a town event when he rarely allows anyone to leave the school grounds at all unless for good reason. She has a feeling that any lie she can come up with won't qualify.

The library is quiet when she walks in, the piece of paper tucked away safely in the little pocket of her shirt. Her eyes sweep over the room out of instinct. She spots a familiar blonde head of hair on her left, bent over something at one of the tables by the window closest to her.

Josie frowns. Sitting across from her are MG and Landon. MG's mouth is moving, curved up just a little, and talking away as he gestures animatedly. Landon seems to be listening to him, but it's hard for her to tell what Lizzie's thinking with her face hidden from view. 

She starts to walk over to them as Lizzie shifts in her seat. Josie falters. She hadn't noticed the other person sitting with them. Sebastian definitely seems to be fitting in well if the way he's smiling is anything to go on. His eyes move between them as they continue to talk.

Rolling her eyes, Josie presses forward. She reminds herself to be nice as she approaches their table. He's new and has been desiccated for centuries. He hasn't even had a chance to make a proper impression on her yet, and she should not judge him based on her first meeting with him. That's not who she is.

She stops beside the table and MG stops mid-sentence, looking up at her, his hands paused in the air in some gesture that he doesn't seem to be too intent on finishing. His smile grows wider if that's even possible.

"Hey, Jo!" he greets her warmly as Landon and Sebastian both look up at her as well. "I was just telling Sebastian some cool stuff about this place. Like, how great Wickery is. Well, when we get to use our powers — otherwise it's sort of just like football."

Sebastian's head tilts a little to the right. "Football? What's that?"

"Well...it's sort of..." MG's hands move despite no words accompanying them, as if hoping they'll be able to do all of the actual talking for him. "You just have this ball, and you just kind of — you know, throw it around. Try to get it in the zones."

"Then why's it called_ foot_-ball?" Sebastian questions with a slight shake of his head, his confusion completely sincere and only enhanced by his accent that Josie has noticed making more than Lizzie swoon when he's around.

MG falters as Landon grins, and Lizzie rolls her eyes, the gesture clearly aimed in MG's direction. Josie can't help a little twitch of her lips as MG's hands stay mid-air once again, a stumped expression quickly taking over his face. He gives a short, nervous laugh.

"Because it's...well, that's actually supposed to be the—"

"MG, please stop confusing and boring Sebastian," Lizzie cuts him off, finally looking up only to shoot him a halfhearted glare. It doesn't quite have as much sting to it as it might have once had. "He just got here. We don't want to drive him back to Scotland."

MG instantly stops talking, sinking down a little in his seat. Josie's heart aches a little, and she rolls her eyes at Lizzie. Maybe some things don't change. Sebastian, though, laughs, ducking his head slightly.

"It was actually interesting," he says, aiming it at MG as if assuring him. It seems to work as MG's face lights right back up, and he looks almost proud of himself. "There's a lot I don't know about this century. It's good to know the little things."

"Yeah, and can we just make sure that you really understand the whole no feeding on humans or anyone at all thing?" Landon asks, making a gesture with his hand over the table. "'Cause I'm still feeling a bit unsafe."

Sebastian grins at him in response, all teeth and fangs. He growls and jokingly snaps them together.

Landon nods slowly, his face losing a few shades of colour. "That's great. I feel so much better."

Josie can't help but silently side with Landon. She wasn't going to judge based on her first impression of him, but she's not so fond of Sebastian. Clearly, Lizzie and MG aren't having the same problem as them. She at least thought that MG would take an immediate disliking to him the second he realized that Sebastian has an interest in Lizzie. Maybe he really has moved on.

"Oh, hey, Jo," Lizzie finally looks up at her, as if she hadn't noticed her before. She straightens in her seat, widening her eyes at her by a couple of inches. "I need to talk to you. About that thing."

Josie almost sighs in relief. She manages to refrain from doing so; she may not trust Sebastian, but she's going to be polite. He's going to be attending the school soon for however long, and she doesn't feel like creating unnecessary tension.

"Of course," she says, already stepping back. 

Lizzie turns, smiles at Sebastian with the signature flutter of her eyelashes that has even Landon rolling his eyes by now, and stands, bringing her book with her. She and Josie move away from the table. Lizzie tries to stop a few feet away, but Josie catches her arm and keeps walking. She's met with no protest and she doesn't stop until they're just outside of the library, in the hallway that leads towards the lounge and a few classrooms.

It's not quite as far away as she would prefer, but Lizzie's already confused, and she's sure that with Sebastian not really knowing how to use his powers, there's a good chance he won't be able to listen in. She's hoping, anyway.

"Okay, so, that piece of paper in Emma's class," Lizzie starts without missing a beat, barely waiting for Josie to turn and face her. "Pretty much just a piece of paper. It's blank."

Josie frowns. "Are you sure?"

Lizzie's already flipping open the book she was staring intently at back at the table and pulling out a loose piece of paper. The same one from the class, with its ripped edges, looking slightly more worn than she remembers. She hands it over to her.

"I'm sure," she says as Josie takes it, staring down at the clearly blank page. "Although...every time I touch it, I do get that weird feeling, you know? The one when there's magic around?"

She's right. At every point that her skin touches the thick paper, it tingles, sending off little sparks in her brain as a warning of magic. She turns it over, glancing over the back, just in case, but it's just as blank as the other side.

"That does make sense if it's still cloaked," Josie muses.

"That's what I was thinking, but, I don't think we can just siphon the spell off," Lizzie quickly says. "We've been doing it a bit too much lately, and I don't know if there's a limit to how much we're allowed to do in a certain time frame. Plus, I already tried and it made me dizzy."

"Anti-siphoner spell?" Josie suggests, her eyebrows furrowing.

Lizzie's face falls. "That's a thing? Why have they never told us about those before?"

"It was just a guess," Josie tells her, "I don't know if they actually exist. But, it would definitely be better protected if they did. And it would mean we would actually have to figure out the counterspell to it."

"Great," Lizzie throws her hands out, half gesturing at the piece of paper, "as if we don't already have enough to do. Well, did you have better luck finding a way to get to Little Miss Perfect?"

"Actually," Josie hands the page back to her and pulls out the slip of paper from her pocket, "yes. Kaleb gave me her number. And he told me that she's going to a town event, tonight, in about an hour."

Lizzie makes a face as she slips the Grimoire page back in between the pages of her book. She closes it with a snap, tucking it underneath her folded arms.

"Ugh, I hate those stupid town events."

"You've never even been to one," Josie points out.

"That's why I hate them," Lizzie replies. "Dad never lets us go. He always tries to make up some fun alternative for them that we can do here instead, but it's always lame. Just for once, I'd like to actually be able to see what all the fuss is about. I mean, they have events every other week, they have to be at least good."

Josie considers her words carefully. She has been saying for years how much she hates not being allowed to go into town, especially when there are events on. Dana and Connor would always use them as taunting bait at every game, or when they ran into them during the few occasions that they've convinced him to let them go into town, with his supervision, of course.

Personally, Josie doesn't see it as too much of a big deal. Frustrating? For sure. But she enjoys the walks around town when it's quiet rather than the big events that they really do hold all the time.

"You should go and talk to Stefanie," she decides, playing it off as nothing when Lizzie looks confused. "I think I might know the spell to get whatever's on that piece of paper to reveal itself, and honestly, your way of getting answers out of her if she has any sounded better than anything I could come up with."

Lizzie stares at her, eyebrows drawing together and eyes narrowed. "But...Stefanie hates me. We established that already. What if she won't tell me anything because I insult her?"

Josie shoots her a look, her head tilting slightly in barely concealed exasperation.

"Then try not to be mean to her," she says, thinking that it should have been the obvious solution in the first place. She holds the little piece of paper with Stefanie's number written on it out to her. "I trust you. You can do this. I'll work on the page, you get out without dad noticing."

Lizzie's face lights up, suddenly on board. A little part of Josie, right at the very back of her mind, can't help but think how badly this could go. She's really hoping Lizzie can put her hatred for Stefanie aside long enough to have something of a civil conversation with her. 

"I can totally do that," Lizzie says eagerly. "And I'll be back before he even notices I'm gone. Not that that would be very hard these days." She pauses, concern flickering across her face. "Does he seem okay to you?"

Josie falters, her lips parting. The first answer that comes to mind is _no, absolutely not,_ but at the same time, she knows he could be worse. He's drinking again, and he's forgetting to shave, and he seems to be stuck in some sort of state of unhappiness. But he's still conscious most of the time, and he's still doing his best with the school for now

"I think once mom comes home, he'll be better," she says. "I was actually thinking he could apply for the opening at Mystic Falls High as principal. He was a teacher there after all, so it wouldn't be so bad."

Lizzie scoffs, but she glances down, a thoughtful look crossing her face.

"I mean, I hate the thought of him being in that place, around our enemies," she says, and Josie has to refrain from rolling her eyes, "but...it could be good for him, I guess. Better than him sitting in that room all day, drinking the weeks away."

Josie definitely agrees on that. The number of bottles she's found in his office and his room are already concerning enough, and he hasn't even technically left the school yet. She doesn't want to imagine how much worse it could get.

"Okay, so, the plan," Lizzie says, quickly shifting the subject right back around with ease. "I sneak out, get Stefanie to talk, find out who the hell Malachai is while you stay here and see if that's just a piece of paper or the answer to all of our problems."

Josie raises her eyebrows a little. Lizzie just shrugs it off.

"Alright, well, you better get ready then," Josie says and waves the little slip of paper at her. "You have around forty minutes. I have no idea what kind of event it is, but you should get there just in case it's already crowded."

Lizzie nods in agreement. She eyes the paper, though, before giving a shake of her head.

"You can keep that," she says, an overly-sweet smile forming on her lips. "I don't need the she-devil in training's number."

"Lizzie."

"Oh come on, she isn't around right now. Besides, I only need to talk to her this one time. You're the one who's friends with her, and Kaleb gave you the number, so you should keep it. I'm perfectly fine with never keeping in contact with her ever after tonight."

Josie shoots her a look that she's sure doesn't even begin to convey her feelings. Still, she drops it, tucking the number back into her pocket. It's probably for the best if Lizzie doesn't have it; Stefanie would have to change her number by the end of the week, and Kaleb would probably be mad at her.

Lizzie tugs the edge of the piece of paper sticking out of the top of her book, pulling it out. She then hands it to her once again, smiling this time as she does, an eager sort of excitement written all over her face.

"Here," she says as Josie takes it, and Lizzie straightens up a little, "now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and say goodbye to Sebastian."

She practically swoons as she casts her eyes up, that familiar love-stricken look settling onto her face.

"Isn't he just the cutest?" she asks as she turns around and they go to walk back into the library. "I mean, he's super hot as well with the whole mysterious stranger thing from the twelfth century — which, is so cool, by the way — but he's also got this super cute charm thing going on? I think it's his accent."

She nods along with her own words, glancing at Josie as if she's imparting some great wisdom on her before her face splits into a wide smile again. Josie hums in false agreement, looking away from her. They stop in the doorway and her eyebrows lift, the corners of her mouth pulling up into a smirk.

"You know, I think you might be right," she says, much to Lizzie's obvious surprise. "He's definitely charming some people."

She nods her head over toward the table they left, and Lizzie follows her amused gaze. Apparently they were gone long enough for Landon to warm up to Sebastian; he's no longer stiff in his seat and eyeing him like he's the big bad wolf from Little Red Riding Hood. He's now turned to face him and MG, all three of them laughing about something. 

Landon's eyes are wide as he nods vigorously, his curls bouncing on his head as MG says something in return, his eyes shifting between him and Sebastian. Whatever it is he says, it has all three of them dissolving into loud laughter.

Josie's far more focused on Sebastian holding Landon's hand across the table. It seems to be the centre of their conversation as Sebastian says something while lightly tracing a finger all the way up Landon's palm as if in a demonstration. It has Landon and MG losing it all over again. 

Josie notices Sebastian's eyes flicking up to look at Landon when he's distracted. There's a faint smirk on his lips, a slight quirk upwards at the corners. His head dips to the side, just watching him as Landon says something to MG and remains completely oblivious to his gaze. She's almost expecting veins to crawl up underneath his eyes, but instead, there's a glint of something she thinks is curiosity. 

When she glances at Lizzie, she almost laughs at the glare she's sending them. Her lips are pressed so tightly together they're practically bright white, and she's frowning so hard that Josie is tempted to make a joke about the crease in her eyebrows.

"I am not letting that _hobbit _steal him from me," she declares firmly. "Being sad and alone and rejected is his thing, and I will not let him turn it into mine just because he's somehow gotten into Sebastian's head."

Josie bites back a laugh and forces herself to nod, making a noise that she really hopes sounds like she's agreeing rather than laughing at the situation. Just the thought of Lizzie losing her shot at the new guy to Landon is almost too much for her. Maybe this isn't going to be just like her obsession with Rafael after all.

"Just don't spend too much time trying to get Sebastian to stop making heart-eyes at Landon," she says, quickly pressing on when Lizzie whips around with wide eyes, glancing back over at the table in alarm. "You have to talk to Stefanie. Sebastian will still be here for you to make him like you when you get back."

Lizzie looks she wants to protest. It doesn't surprise her, but she is starting to worry that this is going to affect things. Lizzie's attention being divided is never good for any situation. But especially not when there's a boy in the equation. A lightbulb seems to spark to life inside of Lizzie's brain. She lifts her head a little higher, smirking as she watches the three boys at the table, their laughter still drifting over to them.

"Don't worry, Jo," she says to her, "I am a fantastic multitasker."

Josie doesn't argue with that. It would be pointless, and the longer she spends trying to would just be wasted time. The faster they get things done, the better for both of them. She just nods, throwing another glance over at the table.

"Okay, you have fun with that," she says, not bothering to conceal her sarcasm. "I have a spell to go and undo. And — please, remember to be nice to Stefanie. We want her to help us, not hate us even more than she already does."

Lizzie rolls her eyes but waves her worries off with a halfhearted promise that she'll stick to the plan. With another quick promise of finding her right after the event, she starts walking, marching right over to the table. Josie lingers, watching as she reclaims her seat and immediately starts up a conversation with Sebastian. 

It takes a moment for him to let Landon's hand go despite Landon's obvious discomfort at Lizzie's sarcastically-sweet smile being directed at him. Landon snatches his hand back right away, and Josie wonders if it's her imagination that Sebastian's eyes dart back to him as if he wishes he hadn't. Josie shakes her head to herself.

As Lizzie drags Sebastian into a conversation with her, completely ignoring Landon's existence in general, MG catches her eyes across the room. He raises his eyebrows slightly in question, smiling at her in invitation as he gives a subtle gesture of his head. She shakes her own head but smiles back at him. 

"I have something I need to do, sorry," she says under her breath. 

His face falls momentarily, the disappointment shining through even from far away. Her heart clenches a little and she has to remind herself that it's better not to tell him the truth about everything that's going on. Dragging him into her family problems when he's still trying to deal with his own isn't something she wants to do, and it isn't something he needs right now either.

"Later then," he mouths at her hopefully, giving a little nod of his head.

Josie nods back, her smile growing. "Definitely."

His face brightens again at her answer, and it helps ease at least a fraction of the guilt. He beams at her and she laughs quietly before forcing herself to give a little wave and back away. She turns away before he stops smiling, walking out of the library with the page in hand.

* * *

Lizzie is not being petty. She is not a petty person, and she certainly isn't jealous. She just happens to suggest to Sebastian that they go into town for the event going on and pulls him away before Landon or MG can say one word about how they're not allowed.

She gets the feeling that he wouldn't care too much either way; he seems like the type to break the rules every now and then. It's one of the reasons she refuses to let him slip through her fingers. It already happened with Rafael, though, she supposes that has more to do with him being stuck as a wolf for the unforeseeable future.

They manage to avoid her dad and pretty much any other type of authority figure once they're ready, and sneak down the stairs, into the foyer. Lizzie stops dead in her tracks. Her shoulders drop and she rolls her eyes.

"Come on," she groans, "why does the universe hate me?"

"Hey, I'm the one who told Josie about this town thing, alright?" Kaleb says, holding up a hand and waving away the protests she's already formed within the last two seconds. "I was going either way. I just wasn't sure I'd have a good excuse for your dad if he caught me, but now, you're my excuse."

He flashes her a bright, completely infuriating grin, because she knows she can't get out of this now. They could be seen trying to sneak out at any second, and she'd rather not waste precious time arguing with Kaleb. He never backs down like everyone else. It's what makes him both her least favourite person aside from Stefanie and those hooligans down at Mystic Falls High, and also one of the only ones she respects the most.

"Fine, but — do they really have to come?" she asks, waving her hand toward Landon and MG, both nervously hovering.

"If I'm going, then so's my boys," Kaleb says with a tone of finality, draping his arm over MG's shoulders as he stares her down, just daring her to challenge him.

She desperately wants to, and honestly is about to simply for the sake of not backing down. MG doesn't even look like he wants to go with the full moon high in the sky, and she can't figure out why Kaleb would want to take the risk either. He looks far less concerned than he should as a vampire. 

"Uh, honestly," Landon gives a tiny shrug of his shoulders, taking a slight step forward, "I'm just going because there's nothing else to do around here. Raf's sort of...disappeared in the woods because of the full moon, and I'm apparently not allowed to go looking for him, so, I figured going to the town events that I always end up having the worst time at would be fun."

She narrows her eyes at him, ignoring his sarcastic tone. "Full offence, but no one cares, bird boy. I just want to get the hell out of here, and you're in my way. All of you."

Landon barely reacts; he just stares for a brief moment, then nods, dropping his eyes to the floor as he leans back. Lizzie barely notices, her attention already swinging back to Kaleb and is met with a glare in defence of Landon.

"Actually, I care," Sebastian pipes up from behind her. 

Lizzie stops, blinks, then turns her head to stare at him as if he's gone insane, which, she's thinking maybe he has. He's not even looking at her though, his eyes on Landon and smiling at him as he steps past her toward him. Landon seems to be just as surprised as her, and rightfully so, she thinks.

"You — you do?" he asks, eyeing him warily. He straightens up a little, stiffening slightly. "Is this your way of getting me to become your human blood bag? Be all nice and then convince me to let you feed on me? Because, I'm a phoenix, and I don't actually quite know how the rules work here—"

Sebastian cuts him off, laughing as he shakes his head gently. "No, I'm not trying to feed on you," he assures him, and something flickers across his face. "Trust me, you'd know if I were."

His assurances don't seem to do much to ease Landon's worries, but he does relax a little. 

"So, tell me about these events," Sebastian says as he opens the door before placing a hand on Landon's back and gently pushing him forward, walking at his side. "What are they like? I've never really been to a town event before. The ones back up in Scotland during my time were probably much different from yours."

Lizzie can only gape after them. This cannot be real. She had a plan. Her plans never fail. Landon's barely said two words to the guy, has only expressed distrust and suspicion toward him, and yet Sebastian's already taken more interest in him than he has with her. 

"He's probably just...trying not to come on too strong," MG pipes up, clearly sensing exactly how she's feeling, but his uncertainty shines through, glancing after them with a doubtful look.

Kaleb snorts as she turns her eyes on the two of them. "Yeah, or the dude's just more into Landon," he says.

He then walks away, MG going too as he shoots an apologetic glance back at her. Lizzie scoffs, shaking her head as she stares at their retreating forms, watching Sebastian continue to talk away to Landon as they walk down the driveway. Of course this would happen to her. As if things weren't bad enough already. 

She forces herself to hurry after them, closing the door quietly behind her. It's not a problem. She has more important things to focus on tonight anyway. So what if Landon keeps Sebastian entertained while she's busy getting information out of Stefanie? That actually stop her from having to keep him out of earshot. 

That doesn't stop her from glaring at the two of them the entire walk into town. And it's a twenty-minute walk, at_ least_. She chooses to ignore Kaleb's teasing her the entire way, for her own sanity and his wellbeing. She reminds herself she has just enough magic left in her to give him a migraine if she wanted to. 

It doesn't do much to make her feel better as they reach the edge of town, officially out of sight from the school. She just hopes that Josie's having more luck with the stupid page than she is with her love life. 

The town square is lit up with lanterns strung from lampost to lampost, illuminating it all in a soft orange glow to make up for the dark sky above them. It's a nice contrast, she can't help but think as she takes it all in. There are quite a few people roaming around, or simply sitting on the ground, chatting away or on their phone to someone. 

It looks lively, and the air is filled with a quiet chatter that's almost comforting. She has no idea what exactly the event is, but it's certainly got a cosy-feel to it despite the cold. The bitterness at not being able to have experienced it until now returns in the pit of her stomach. 

"Alright, you kids have fun," Kaleb says as they stop just outside of the square, turning to face them for a brief moment, "'cause I certainly plan to."

He leaves it at that, not giving Lizzie much of a chance to protest, though she tries. She just drops her arms back to her sides with a huff, having been about to tell him he can't just wander off. She supposes he can't get into much trouble on his own. As long as no one else turns up dead or wearing a scarf in the middle of summer, they should be okay. 

"Yeah, I'm probably gonna, too..." MG says, pointing his thumbs towards the square, backing away with a sheepish smile. 

Lizzie doesn't even try and stop him. When she turns to look for Landon and Sebastian, they're already wandering off into the small crowd of Mystic Falls residents, Sebastian looking up with an expression close to wonderment as Landon talks away, acting as his own personal tour guide.

"Mop-headed bird," she mutters under her breath. If he had just turned out to be human or they had never discovered he was a phoenix in the first place, everything would be fine. But no. MG just had to go and kill him and give him a reason to stay.

Josie's voice pops up in the back of her mind. She's there for a reason. Stefanie Salvatore. The she-devil in training, falling just below Penelope, actual satan herself. But tonight, her very best friend. She glances around, doing a sweep of the town square. She starts walking, following the path and taking everything in while keeping an eye out for Stefanie. Finding her shouldn't be too hard. 

Admittedly, it takes a few moments longer than she was expecting it to. But eventually, she finds her, much to her relief. She's standing just a few feet away, in a more spaced-out part of the square, opposite from the statue. Talking to Kaleb. 

Lizzie groans, her eyes closing for a brief moment. "Why, universe? Why do you hate me when I have been nothing but good lately?"

Pulling herself together as best she can, she forces herself to breathe out slowly and opens her eyes. The restless little tugging remains in her chest. She plasters on a smile and walks forward, heading straight for them. Her eyes lock with Kaleb's before Stefanie even notices her. He rolls his eyes, and she's pretty sure he groans. She can't help but be a little offended. 

"Lizzie, come on," he says, and gestures at Stefanie who's now noticing her with a look of disdain, "I'm not trying to feed on her! See? No bite marks and she is clearly not compelled, so can you please just chill out and let me enjoy myself?"

Lizzie's eyes widen, staring at him incredulously as she comes to a stop. "Well, I sure hope you're going to compel her now!"

It takes Kaleb a moment to catch on as he glances from her to Stefanie in confusion. Then his eyebrows lift as she gestures urgently towards Stefanie in alarm, already preparing a spell to stop her from running away screaming bloody murder.

"Oh," he sighs, his mouth curving up. "Oh, you can relax. Stef's chill. She knows everything."

Lizzie can only stare at him, not moving an inch, her eyes only quickly narrowing instead. She tries to process through what he just said and glances Stefanie in confusion. Stefanie just raises her eyebrows at her, clearly amused. 

"She...she knows?" Lizzie asks warily. "Because you told her? Which means you should be compelling her right now to forget everything that we've just said and whatever the hell else you've told her about us."

Stefanie snickers and actually has the audacity to eye her up and down. "You were not kidding about her, were you? I'm starting to get it now, even though I'm still completely weirded out by it."

Lizzie stops, her eyes narrowing further. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Chill, Lizzie," Kaleb says, holding up a hand.

His eyes dart to Stefanie though, a discreet flash of something that almost looks_ annoyed_ at her. Stefanie merely smirks, tilting her head up, and he rolls his eyes, turning back to Lizzie as she stares between them in confusion. He raises a shoulder in a shrug.

"I couldn't compel her even if I wanted to," he tells her. "You know, you witches have that annoying ability to resist compulsion. Totally unfair trait, by the way."

Stefanie scoffs, turning her eyes on him. "You act like you didn't have that ability. And yeah, because super-speed, great hearing, and literally living forever without ageing are totally fair compared to being able to resist being mind-controlled against our will. You're beginning to sound just like my dad, cuz."

"I'm taking that as a compliment," Kaleb says, flashing her a grin, "your dad's pretty awesome."

Lizzie has forgotten how to speak. Her mind's still trying to wrap around all of the information that was just thrown at her in the space of ten seconds, but it's like trying to do a spell without the incantation. She's in a state of shock, and all she can do is stare at the two of them. 

"_What?_" she then blurts out, her voice a tiny bit louder than she had intended. 

They both look at her, and she's honestly a little scared by how similar their expressions of amusement are. She's finally beginning to understand why she's equally as infuriated by the both of them.

"First of all:_ cuz_?" she questions, her eyebrows practically lifting off of her forehead. "You two are _related_?"

Kaleb quirks an eyebrow at her, but slowly says, "yeah, last time I checked, anyway."

"He's my second cousin if we're getting technical," Stefanie adds. "But he's more like mine since he seems to enjoy annoying me more than literally anyone else in the family. It's a big one, too — you know, I'm not your only cousin."

"Yeah, but you're the most fun to annoy," Kaleb says like it's obvious. 

Lizzie shakes her head, her hands flying out in front of her as if she can somehow stop time and go back. This is too much. She wanted answers, but this is far from what she was expecting. She can barely handle her own family drama and secrets, never mind throwing in Stefanie Salvatore's into the equation.

"Alright, fine, sure, I can deal with that," she attempts to convince herself. "But can we maybe go back to the part where you've been aware of the supernatural this entire time, and oh yeah, that you're a freaking_ witch_?"

"No need to be rude," Stefanie says, feigning hurt as she presses a hand to her chest. 

Lizzie glares at her and she drops it, a smirk pulling her mouth right back up.

"Yeah, I've known about your little school for a while now," she tells her. "I finally got a hang of my magic, and naturally, wanted to brag to this idiot because he hadn't tapped into his own yet."

Lizzie directs her glare at Kaleb. "You told her?"

"Hey, are you forgetting the fact that I didn't even go here until last year?" Kaleb points out. "I wasn't the one who told her about it. Her parents did. They were also the ones who told me about it, so chill out"

"Yeah, all he's done has told me all of your secrets," Stefanie says with mock flippancy, her smug smirk shining through.

Lizzie's jaw clenches, her head tilting at Kaleb. He just shrugs, so nonchalant about the whole thing that it only adds to her fast-growing anger. 

"Then why the hell haven't you been going to our school?" Lizzie questions, quickly turning back on Stefanie. "If you've known that you were a witch for five years? And—" she waves at Kaleb, shaking her head incredulously "—if you were a freaking witch to start out with as well then where the hell were you all this time?"

"Not here, obviously," he answers, raising an eyebrow at her. "When you grow up with witches, you don't really need a school to teach you about them."

"Because I didn't wanna switch schools?" Stefanie says like it should be obvious when Lizzie looks at her questioningly, and Lizzie's positive now that she knows why she dislikes them both so much. "Everyone in Mystic Falls thinks you guys are stuck-up rich kids, even when I was nine. I wasn't putting myself through that. I know how to control my own magic, I don't need some fancy boarding school to teach me."

"I must be in hell right now," Lizzie says to herself, shaking her head. "Or at least in an extremely vivid nightmare brought on by some sort of fever. Maybe it's the dream monster again."

Stefanie's eyebrows furrow slightly and she glances at Kaleb. He just waves a hand, a silent signal for "don't even ask." 

"Okay, look," Lizzie says, lifting her eyes back to Stefanie, determined, "I'm gonna be entirely honest with you right now. I came here looking for you because I need to ask you if you have ever heard the name Malachai before from either your dad, or your mom, or just anything."

Stefanie pauses in thought, looking away as she makes a face. A beat passes, but she shakes her head slowly.

"No, no, I don't think I have," she says. "It sounds sort of familiar, I guess, but I don't remember ever actually hearing my mom or dad say it."

Lizzie looks to Kaleb in question. "Is she lying?"

Stefanie's shoulders drop, making an exasperated gesture of her hands as she looks away from her. Kaleb rolls his eyes, still smiling, but shakes his head as well.

"Nah, she's telling the truth," he says. "And I've never heard it either. Are you sure that's even a real name? It sounds—"

"—serial killery?" Lizzie finishes for him. "Yeah, I'm aware. But it's real, and unfortunately for me, not one you've heard before. Which means I'm back to square one. Perfect."

She turns away from them, rubbing at her forehead. Clearly her parents aren't the only ones keeping things hidden from their kids. If Stefanie's dad has never mentioned that he knows someone named Malachai before, then there must be a reason. She's got a feeling it has something to do with his being locked up in the prison world. 

"Hey, I could ask my dad, if you want?" Stefanie offers uncertainly. "He tells me, like, almost everything, so."

"No!" Lizzie quickly turns back around, wide-eyed, her panic spiking. Stefanie's eyebrows furrow slightly and, a little more calmly, she adds, "Don't do that. Please. It would be much better if you just...didn't mention the name to anyone. At all. Or that I was asking about it."

"You're aware of how shady that sounds, right?" Stefanie asks as Kaleb nods in agreement.

Lizzie sighs, closing her eyes again as she tries to tell her heartbeat to sort itself out. 

"I know," she says, a little more slowly now as she looks back up at the two of them. "But I just really need you to keep this between us. You may not like me, but, please...this affects Josie as well. If you tell anyone, she's going to be dragged into this, and I just don't want that."

Stefanie's expression flickers, softening a touch. Success. Throwing Josie in was a risky chance that Lizzie was really hoping would work, and is relieved to see she was right about. Though not so thrilled about the implications or the fact that Josie is actually something she can use against Stefanie. One problem at a time. 

"Just between us," Stefanie agrees after a beat, shrugging halfheartedly. 

"Great! You're not so bad after all," Lizzie says. 

Stefanie rolls her eyes as Kaleb snickers into the red plastic cup he's holding.

"Okay, well, since you were literally my only reason for being at this stupid thing," Lizzie gestures behind her, flashing them both a maybe-too-sweet smile, "I'm gonna go. I have a future boyfriend to save from the grips of an elf who desperately needs to be reminded that I get what I want."

Stefanie's eyebrows raise again, but she stays quiet, just giving a nod this time and a smile that's clearly her attempt at biting back laughter. Kaleb shakes his head at her, turning away as he starts talking to Stefanie.

Lizzie quickly leaves them and moves back into the heart of the event. So much for Stefanie being the key to all of their problems. She should have guessed nothing good would come of that idea. 

* * *

There's silence on the other end of the line. A beat passes, and another. Caroline can only hear her heart knocking against her ribs, asking if it's time for them to make their escape. She wishes more than anything that it was. She knows that Valerie hasn't hung up on her, though, still able to make out faint noises in the background, presumably coming from outside.

The rain only seems to be coming down heavier, clouding the sky and part of the street in front of her. It feels appropriate for the situation. She can't bring herself to speak again, and thankfully, she doesn't have to.

"Caroline," Valerie's voice comes through at last, speaking slowly and with an edge of something Caroline can't quite put her finger on, but she knows it isn't good. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you for... ever again, actually."

An unspoken addition of "not after everything," hangs in the air. There are so many things she could say. Not after Rayna Cruz showed up in town. Not after she helped deliver Lizzie and Josie. Not after she went on the run with Stefan while Caroline moved to Texas with Alaric and the twins. Not after she found out that they got back together during that time. Not after Stefan died. 

It's better if all of it is left unspoken, she decides. It would cause unnecessary pain to both of them.

Swallowing, Caroline nods to herself. "I know. I never expected to be calling you again. But, we're both immortal, so I suppose it was bound to happen eventually, right?"

"I was hoping that it would be in at least a hundred years, not thirteen," Valerie says, and a hint of concern slips into her voice with a sigh. "Which means that's something's gone horribly wrong like it always does."

Caroline wants to be able to deny that that's the only reason she's calling her, but it's pretty clear that Valerie wouldn't believe her anyway. And she is right, much to Caroline's dismay. Just for once, she'd prefer that their lives weren't predictable in the sense that the worst can always be expected to happen.

"Yeah," Caroline breathes out. "Yeah, it sort of has. Look, I wouldn't be calling you if this wasn't really important, you know that. But...it's about the twins."

"What about them?" Valerie asks, her attention fully caught by the sounds of it. "If I'm remembering clearly, their sixteenth birthday was just a few months ago, wasn't it? The merge doesn't happen until they're twenty-two."

"That's actually what I need your help with," Caroline tells her.

There's a brief pause. Then Valerie, almost sounding sympathetic, says, "Caroline, there's nothing I can do about the merge. It's a curse. You know that. The only reason I managed to escape it was because my coven refused to have a siphoner for a leader, and I wasn't a member of the Parker family. But, your girls are the last living Gemini witches, and the curse will only be delayed until—"

"I know, I know," Caroline quickly says, unable to bring herself to hear it said out loud again. She exhales, slowly lowering her hand from where she left it in the air. "But that's the thing: we've found a way to undo the curse, but it requires a siphoner. I would obviously ask the girls to do it since this is for them, but I don't know if that'll maybe affect how it works, and so, I thought maybe you—"

"Wait, hold on," Valerie cuts in, making her stop talking instantly, her lips still parted. "You found a way to undo the centuries-old curse put on the Gemini Coven? I — I couldn't even...how?"

"Well, it only took eleven years and about a thousand failed leads, but I finally found someone who actually knows the whole story of how they got cursed in the first place," Caroline tells her.

Valerie sputters on the other end, her disbelief and utter confusion clear in the noise. "Who?" 

"Kol Mikaelson." As an afterthought and thinking it might make it sound like somewhat of a not-so-idiotic idea, she quickly adds on, "and his wife, Davina Claire."

"Mikaelson?" Valerie repeats slowly, the recognition sparking in her voice as Caroline was hoping it wouldn't. "As in—"

"Yeah, that's the one."

There's another pause. Maybe she should mention that they're with Freya. She is the one that Valerie's met, after all. At least, Caroline thinks she has. There's the sound of her taking in a breath, clearly trying to process through it all. Caroline just waits patiently, not wanting to push her.

"Okay, well... how do you undo the curse then?" Valerie asks.

Caroline closes her eyes briefly in a silent cheer of success, the relief washing over her. If she's willing to ask for more details then maybe her agreeing to Caroline's plan isn't as out of the realm of possibilities as she had thought.

"It's a little bit complicated," she hurries to explain, "but basically, the spell to undo it requires a Bennett witch to perform it, some of their blood, and some from a living Mikaelson. The other part is someone who can siphon from the curse and the magic of the spell while it's being done. Bonnie and Davina can better explain the actual magic part, but...that's why I'm calling you."

Valerie doesn't say anything right away. She takes a long, agonising moment, and Caroline waits once again, watching the rainstorm continue to blow down the street around her. It almost feels like a bad omen, the same shiver that claws up her spine when she sees a crow just waddling down the street. Especially when it's followed by Damon. 

"Caroline, your twins are siphoners, too," Valerie points out. "Why not just have them do the spell?"

"Because I don't want to risk anything going wrong," Caroline says again, shaking her head. "I don't know how this whole thing works, but I don't want either of them to try and do it only for them to hurt each other, or themselves, or—"

She stops. Inhaling, she reminds herself to stay calm. Overthinking any of it isn't going to help. Her focus needs to stay on one thing at a time, and right now, Valerie is that thing, not the possibilities of what could go wrong.

"Please," she starts again, quietly now, dropping any awkward anxiety in favour of her desperation. "Valerie, you helped me save them once. You saved _me_. They're just kids, and I...I can't bear the thought of losing one of them, nevermind both."

Six years or not, the thought alone is too hard. Every birthday would be a reminder like it has been for the past sixteen years, that once they hit twenty-two, she's going to lose her children. She can't keep doing that. 

Valerie's gone quiet again. Caroline can feel her pulse racing underneath her skin. It's weak though, and she's shaking more from it than the cold of the storm. She needs to feed soon. It's easy to forget with all of the moving around. At last, just when Caroline goes to open her mouth and attempt one last time at convincing her, Valerie speaks.

"I'll help you," she says quietly. "You're right. I can't just sit by not knowing if something is going to go wrong."

All of the air in Caroline's lungs leaves her in a breath of relief, her hand pressing against her chest. 

"I can't even begin to thank you enough for this," she tells her.

"Don't worry about it," Valerie says, though there's a tightness to her voice. "Just tell me where you need me to meet you and when. I'm currently residing in a quaint little town in New Mexico, but I'm sure I could catch a flight."

"Uh, well, I'm sort of in New Orleans right now," she says, glancing around the street. "But I'm leaving to go back to Mystic Falls tonight, so...would it be possible for you to meet us there? I know, asking you to go back there is a big one, but..."

"I'll be there," Valerie says after a moments pause. Caroline can't help but think she sounds like she would rather be saying anything else. "I'm just surprised that you still live there after everything that's happened."

Caroline makes a noise of agreement, casting her eyes up. All of the stars are gone from the sky, obscured by the storm clouds rolling over New Orleans as if with some mission.

"Trust me, so am I. But..." she inhales, giving a shrug of her shoulder, "...it's my home. And my family's."

Valerie gives a slight hum on the other end, and she imagines she's nodding at the use of the word. Caroline almost feels guilty for using it at all. Lizzie and Josie are her family, and Alaric is always going to be a part of that as well, of course. And Bonnie, and Elena, and even Damon and Enzo, and anyone that she has ever cared about in her entire life. But it still somehow feels wrong. Like a betrayal.

"When do you need me to be there?" Valerie asks, pulling her out of it.

"Uh, does as soon as possible work for you?" Caroline asks gingerly, her hand moving up to catch her nail between her teeth. 

"Yeah, I was gonna leave this place soon anyway," Valerie answers right away, not even missing a beat. "I'll check the flights going out tonight, see what I can do. It shouldn't take me too long to get there."

"Thank you so much for this, Valerie," Caroline says again. "Seriously. Everything you have done for me, and the girls, and Alaric. I appreciate all of it."

"I'll get back to you once I'm in Mystic Falls. Oh, wait — there aren't any new things terrorising the town, are there?" she questions, the concern returning to her voice for a completely different reason. "Because I remember hearing something about more gas leaks and a warehouse of dead bodies a good few years back. I just want to know if I should be prepared to walk back into the past and deal with Julian two-point-oh."

Caroline suppresses a small smile, as sad as it is, even with Valerie being unable to see her.

"No, you do not need to worry," she assures her, then pauses, thinking. "Okay, well, maybe be on guard just in case. I haven't exactly been back in a few months, and Alaric mentioned some new things popping up at the school, but the town itself is safe again as far as I'm aware."

"Okay, I will keep that in mind," Valerie says.

"See you soon," Caroline says. 

Valerie hangs up. Caroline sighs, the noise being carried away by the pouring rain and the breeze that whips past her the second it leaves her lips. Her chest feels looser, less like all of her ribs have been crushed together and twisted into a neat little bow to put on her heart. 

She slips her phone back into her pocket but doesn't move to go back inside right away. She's soaking wet, and her limbs ache a little from what little blood she's consumed recently, and yet, she takes a moment to hold onto the feeling. The hopeful one that's wrapping around her as if comforting her, assuring her that everything really is going to be okay after all.

They have Bonnie. They have Davina, Freya, and even Kol. They even have Valerie now as well. And they have a way to undo the curse. For the first time in sixteen years, she actually feels like maybe their future isn't as inevitable as everyone thought.

It takes her another few seconds of just staring through the rain, her arms wrapped around herself, but she eventually forces herself to move. She turns around, walking back up to the front door and opening it. Part of her is almost expecting to find herself in the middle of an argument as she walks back down the hall toward the room at the back where she left the four of them. She isn't met with raised voices or threats, and she takes that as a good sign.

When she slips back through the shimmering wall disguising the doorway from view, everyone's sitting down, save for Kol. He's leaning back against the wall beside Freya, his arms crossed, but looking considerably less threatening than he usually does. Bonnie and Davina are across from the two of them on the other couch, and by the looks of it, they're getting along fairly well. That's definitely a good sign if they're going to be working together for the next day or so. 

Kol's the first to spot her, his hearing probably having caught the sound of the front door. He eyes her like he wants to be suspicious of her, but he doesn't question her. Bonnie, on the other hand; she turns in her seat to look up at her, that discreetly curious look on her face. 

"Everything okay?" she asks, lowering her voice as she raises her eyebrows the slightest bit.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's okay," she says, but that only seems to replace Bonnie's concern with confusion. Taking in a deep breath, she then presses on to explain, "I called Valerie."

It takes Bonnie a second to react, frozen for just a brief moment. Then her expression morphs, her eyebrows drawing together and the disbelief settling in in an instant, her confusion only evolving.

"_Valerie_?" she says incredulously. "You called Valerie Tulle? I — why?"

"Who's Valerie?" Davina asks, glancing between them.

"Ex-girlfriend?" Kol guesses, raising his eyebrows at Caroline. 

Freya stares at the ground, something flickering across her face as Caroline glances over at her. She goes to explain, feeling Bonnie's eyes still boring into her in a mixture of emotions that are all overpowering each other. Freya's face lights up as it seems to click into place.

"I remember a Valerie Tulle," she says slowly, drawing everyone's attention to her. "She was with Stefan when Klaus came and begged me to help him hide from Rayna Cruz. The heretic. I never saw much of her, but I remember hearing her name."

"Oh, so Stefan's ex-girlfriend then," Kol says.

Caroline would glare at him but he's not exactly wrong. She chooses to ignore him instead, turning back to Bonnie.

"The Grimoire says a siphoner is needed for the spell," she hurries to explain again, pressing on before Bonnie can point out the obvious. "I didn't want to risk something going wrong with Lizzie and Josie doing it. There are only two other siphoners left alive as far as we know, and one of them tried to kill my girls when they were four while the other helped save their lives when they were born. It seemed like a bit of a no-brainer to choose Valerie."

Bonnie's expression softens a little, and Caroline knows right away she isn't mad. Not even for hinting at Kai's existence, which is usually something that makes her stare harden and grow colder in a way that seems to make the air around them turn to ice, especially when they look like Damon. He only did it twice, both by accident, and he always seems regretful of it and has never done it since. 

"I get that," Bonnie tells her, nodding as if to make sure Caroline understands that she means it. "I just wasn't expecting it. Or for you to still have Valerie's number, which is something that we should probably talk about later."

Caroline turns sheepish, at least managing a small smile of understanding. It's probably going to be nearly identical to all of the gentle conversations about her wedding ring, and how when people refer to her as simply Miss Forbes, she corrects them. Bonnie's just looking out for her, she knows that, and Bonnie knows that there are just some things she can't let go of. This might be one that she should have.

"Wait, so, we're adding another person to this little cult you're gathering?" Kol asks, raising a hand out in front of him. "Do you plan on bringing back every old enemy and friend you've ever made in Mystic Falls? Because, I have to say, I am certainly not looking forward to you having to drag a few of them out of hell."

Caroline rolls her eyes as Freya smacks his arm lightly, staring up at him with a pointed look that's clearly telling him to shut up. He pulls his arm away from her, looking defiant, but after just two seconds, he drops it with an inaudible huff.

"I told Valerie that I was heading back to Mystic Falls tonight," Caroline says, her eyes darting across each and every one of them. With a slight shrug of her shoulders and a forced smile, she asks, "so, who's ready for a road trip?"

"Well, I have Damon blowing up my phone as we speak and an equally as worried Enzo doing the same," Bonnie sighs. "That's what I get for telling them who we were with, I suppose."

She glances over at Kol, receiving an eyeroll and a sarcastic smile in response before she turns back, hits her hands gently on the arm of the couch, and pushes herself up as she smiles back at Caroline.

"So, I'm ready to go home," Bonnie says.

"I just need a few minutes," Freya says, gesturing vaguely around them.

Caroline understands and nods right away. "Of course. Again, I appreciate you doing this so much. And, I'll even explain to your family myself that I'm the entire reason for this if that would help. Anything you need."

Freya smiles at that, the gesture warmer than it had been when she opened the front door to them. It's definitely progress, and as Caroline's noticed, it isn't as hard to get through to Mikaelsons as she would have once thought.

"Alright, well," Kol sighs, pushing away from the wall, "I'm good to go. Not that I really want to, but I suppose it'll be nice to revisit my old home. Reminisce and relive all of the delightful memories I have there."

The words are dripping with sarcasm, but Caroline's just grateful that he's even coming along at all. None of it has nothing to do with him, and he has no part to play in undoing the curse, and yet, he's joining them anyway. She's sure it's entirely for Davina, as well as Freya, to make sure nothing happens to them, and that's exactly why Caroline's happy about it. 

"Let's go then," Davina says as she stands, smiling at Caroline and Bonnie before turning to Kol.

He nods back, smile warm and far more sincere as if he's already forgotten that Davina isn't the only person in the room with him, and takes the hand she offers to him. They walk out, and Caroline and Bonnie follow, leaving Freya to get everything in order.

As they step out into the pouring rain, Davina muttering something under her breath that has her and Kol looking suspiciously untouched by even a single drop, Bonnie looks at Caroline. She sends her a soft smile that Caroline returns without hesitation, breathing out slowly.

"I guess this is it," Caroline says, nerves rattling her voice around.

"Yeah, it is," Bonnie agrees, sounding almost as anxious. "We're going home, Care."

* * *

A burning sensation shoots up through Josie's hands in a sudden burst. Flames burst to life behind her eyelids, bright and soaring, enveloping her senses before she can even take a breath. Something tugs at the tips of her fingers and her eyes fly open.

Nothing's caught on fire by the looks of it, and she gasps out a breath of relief. Setting things on fire without really meaning to is a habit that she's picked up over the years with no idea where it came from. Her mom and dad both waved it off as learning a spell too early but never really went into much more detail about it as they exchanged a knowing look.

She glances down at where she placed the page in front of her on her bed. Her eyes widen. Lowering her hands, she watches as little dots of ink bleed onto the paper as if being written by an invisible hand right in front of her eyes. 

"It worked," she says quietly to herself as the ink grows darker into spiralling letters, joining together all across the page.

Her first thought is how familiar the handwriting is before it's even finished revealing itself. She has absolutely seen it somewhere before, but she's never been the best at being able to connect someone's handwriting to them. Her immediate guess is Emma. It was in her office, after all, and embedded with some type of powerful magic. 

She waits another moment until the page is covered in writing and a little drawing in the bottom right corner. It's unmistakably the ascendant. Lizzie was actually right. It was there all along, as was the Grimoire's owner. Which might also mean—

The air shifts around her, making her lungs pause in taking a breath. She stays perfectly still, her heart quickly spiking in speed and losing its rhythm. Goosebumps rise to the surface of her skin as the tell-tale sensation of being watched washes over her. The feeling of magic surrounding her in a little bubble is easily recognizable. 

She shifts her eyes around her carefully. Maybe it's Penelope. Part of her hopes it's Penelope and is almost expecting to see her pop up in front of her in a shimmery form of her usual self. She missed her last scheduled call with her again, and she couldn't bring herself to lie to her again about the reason why. Maybe she just wants to check up on her.

Her room stays perfectly still, not even a slight shimmer. Disappointment sinks in, but she pushes it down. She was the one who skipped out on her. Once she gets the chance, she'll call her. 

She looks back down at the page, reminding herself of her priority, and begins to read over what it says. She stops, staring at it. There's an incantation. And right next to it is an instruction on what it does. A way to get into the prison world — not just as some half-version of a ghost, but really be able to go into it, to really be there. She didn't even know that was a possibility, though she supposes a part of her had been hoping since they discovered it. 

Her mouth slowly curves up in disbelief. This is it. This is what they need to be able to go in and get the answers they're looking for. If that man really is their uncle like they're now sure he is, then he would know all about the Gemini Coven. Maybe even how to break the curse. Maybe that's why he was put in there in the first place, for trying to break away from the coven.

The reality of what that could mean finally sinks in and hits her. She hurries to grab the page, moving to climb off of her bed with the intent of finding Lizzie. It's only been half an hour at most, so the chances of her being back already are slim. She's hoping she can sneak into town as successfully as Lizzie did.

A flutter of movement catches the corner of her eyes as she goes to move for the door. She pauses, turning back, and looks down at the floor. There's a little slip of paper just a couple of inches from her feet, probably having shifted it when she stood.

Bending down, she picks it up, assuming it's the one with Stefanie's number on it. When she turns it over, however, there isn't a number to be found. She straightens back up, frowning.

_Guess four: Josette or Elizabeth. If I'm right, come back. I want to talk. Uncle to nieces._

It can't be. There's no way that's even possible. Except, she can't be sure of that. There isn't exactly a guide to how the prison world works or what can or can't be done. Who's to say that someone in one wouldn't be able to send a message over to their world with enough magic? It's not entirely outside of the realm of possibilities. 

Her heart jumps a beat or two as she continues to stare at the message. Uncle to nieces. He even knows their names. They were only four when he apparently got sent there. For him to know that, they must have known each other. 

The thought that she's forgotten about this member of her family hurts her, twisting guilt and confusion deep into her skin like vines of thorns. She's always wished she got to know at least one person from Jo's side of the family. Then Jo herself came back, but not really as her, and now... she looks back at the page held in her other hand. _Come back._

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she inhales deeply through her nose and moves over to her window. She tucks the message away in her pocket beside the other one, setting the page down beside her on the floor. It takes barely five seconds for her to remove the wooden panel, grab the ascendant, and slip it back into place. 

She then picks the page back up and straightens up once more. Folding the page carefully, she slips it into the elastic of her skirt, hiding it safety underneath her shirt as she readjusts it. Then turns her attention to the ascendant. 

"Invisique," she mutters, pulling on the magic that's already resting at the very tips of her fingers, her entire body still practically brimming with it. Nothing seems to change. 

She hurries over to Lizzie's mirror in the corner of the room. Her stomach twists then swoops as she stares into it only to find a reflection of the room behind her. She's nowhere to be found. Smiling to herself in triumph, she leaves her room and heads straight down the stairs. 

Her heartbeat is all over the place, and her head's spinning a little, but she doesn't care. She has to find Lizzie — she made a promise to her that they're in this together, and right now, they have an uncle who wants to see and talk to both of them. Finally, someone who just might tell them the truth. They should be together to hear it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More plot twists!! Did anyone see any of the coming? How do we feel about Sebastian getting closer to Landon? And that reveal with Stefanie and Kaleb...damn. Will bringing Valerie in make things easier or harder? I would love to hear all of your thoughts on all of it, and any theories you have! ❤


	14. We have a bit of a bigger issue here

Sticking around town after talking to Stefanie wasn't necessarily part of the plan, but Lizzie's sure Josie won't mind too much. At least, she's hoping not, because she's having a little too much fun to drag herself away from it so early. Apparently it's not going to end until close to three in the morning, and how is she supposed to just skip out on it now?

Plus, Sebastian insisted on staying. She was going to gently protest and convince him that going back to the school would be better and that there would be more fun to have there, but then Landon jumped in before she could and said he was going to hang around a bit longer as well. Sebastian's face practically lit up, and Lizzie can't look like the boring one out of her and _Landon _for god's sake. 

Besides, she's using her time wisely. By keeping an eye on Kaleb and Stefanie from all the way across the square. So far, he's left her about three times to go and talk to other people, mingling and refreshing his actual drink, and she wandered over to some girl at some point. They only talked for about ten minutes, but she could hear their infuriating laughter even without the sensitive hearing. 

Stefanie catches her eyes from across the street. Lizzie tenses at being caught staring at her, but she quickly brushes it off with a sharp glare and a dry smile. Stefanie just smirks and blows her a mocking kiss in return. If Lizzie was annoyed by her mere existence before, she's nauseated now. Practically sick to her stomach.

She turns away from her with a scoff. MG's somehow managed to find them again, she notices, as he's now standing with Sebastian, already capturing him in conversation. Lizzie barely listens, giving a discreet roll of her eyes. For an old-fashioned vampire who's still adjusting to life in the modern era, Sebastian sure does seem to be warming up to the guys awfully fast. She can't help but wonder what the hell Scotland was like in the fifteenth century. 

"Either you secretly have a thing for Stefanie or you're just super obsessed with her," she hears Kaleb say from right behind her, low and nearly whispering in her ear. She pushes down the shiver that creeps up her back, across her shoulders, and up her neck. "Either way, you're totally creeping her out."

"Good," Lizzie says, narrowing her eyes as she turns her head to look at Kaleb. "She should be. I am intimidating."

"I said creeped out, not intimidated," Kaleb corrects with a grin. "All you're doing is giving her more reason to laugh at you. And, don't get me wrong, I'm finding it hilarious, but it also means she's gonna talk about you more to her friends. I remember that jerk with the milkshake. I'm just sayin'."

Lizzie stares at him, her eyes narrowing an inch more as she eyes him suspiciously. "Why do you suddenly care about me?" she asks, leaning away slightly. 

Kaleb rolls his eyes and moves a hand to her shoulder, shaking his head.

"You got some serious trust issues, Saltzman," he tells her bluntly. He looks her in the eyes, though, and adds, "I just don't wanna watch it happen again. So, try not to provoke her and give her more ammo against you, alright? Dana already had a hand in that as well before the Arachne."

"Ugh, they were _friends_?" Lizzie asks, her face scrunching in disgust. "And I thought I couldn't be more disappointed. How the hell is that_ pre-schooler_ friends with everyone in this town?"

Kaleb chuckles lowly, ignoring the jibe at Stefanie, and Lizzie's head tilts.

"Hold on, you're her family," she says, "shouldn't you be on her side?"

"Look, she's my cousin and I love her, alright?" Kaleb shakes his head. "But I hate these Mystic Falls assholes, and I go to school with you. She chose her friends, and I chose mine. If you're being targetted by them, then I ain't just gonna stand by knowing it was because of her. They already have enough against us as it is. Doesn't mean I'm gonna stop her though, she'd probably hex me."

Lizzie can't help the slight quirk at the corners of her mouth. 

"Well, then...thanks, I guess," she says with an air of awkwardness. They've never exactly been close, but with everything that's been going on with Malivore, it's been hard for them not to be forced to spend time together. It still feels weird, though, she'll admit, not entirely unpleasant.

"This don't mean we're friends," he tells her, raising his eyebrows at her. 

She hums, her smirk growing as she pretends to agree with him. He rolls his eyes again, but he grins and lets it drop just like that. 

"Alright, well, I just came over here to tell you that I think I was wrong before," he says, and her eyebrows furrow. "I feel like I've heard that name you said, but I just can't figure out where. I think I read it in some Grimoire or something that belongs to one of my cousins — pretty sure he was some dude who went to prison?"

Lizzie's eyes widen, the colour quickly draining from her face. Her skin heats up instantly as if set alight, her heart already racing after his words. Kaleb doesn't notice.

"It was probably just some dumb story," he continues, shrugging it off. "But Malachai is a pretty memorable name. I could probably get the book from her, but I'm pretty sure it's not gonna be what you're looking for. Not that I actually know what it is you're looking for..."

Lizzie isn't so sure about that, personally, skipping over his obvious prompt for her to tell him more about the name. Witches apparently run in some part of his family, and if he read the name Malachai in a _Grimoire _that one of them just happened to have, she's got a feeling that that's exactly what she's looking for.

"Uh, actually...you know what? Yes," she says, her eyes still wide and frantic. "If you would be able to get that book without anyone noticing, I would absolutely love to borro—"

There's a light tug on her right hand, abruptly stopping as she looks down at it. For a brief moment, she thinks that Sebastian is finally paying attention to her and has decided to make a move. Her hand's empty, though, and Sebastian is still in the middle of talking to MG. She was sure playing hard to get was supposed to be her thing. 

There's another tug at her hand, more insistent this time. 

"Lizzie?" Kaleb asks, his head tilting slightly to try and catch her eyes as subtle concern flickers across his face. "Lizzie? You okay?"

"I'm not entirely sure," she answers honestly, her eyebrows knitting together as she stares at her hand. 

Then there's an exasperated sigh from behind her. She whips around, accidentally forcing Kaleb to pull his arm back with the hand he still had settled on her shoulder.

"It's me," Josie hisses at her as if she should have somehow figured that out already. 

Lizzie stares at her in disbelief then quickly throws a glance behind her, making sure no one's looking their way. She's sure that someone magically appearing out of thin air would concern a person or two. 

Kaleb eyes Josie with a quirked eyebrow. "That will never not be weird."

"What are you thinking?" Lizzie hisses back, quickly stepping forward as if keeping her out of view will somehow make it any better if anyone did see her. She's going to take the lack of shouting about witches as a good sign. "Are you trying to out us to the entire population of Mystic Falls?"

"No one saw me," Josie says, waving a hand vaguely toward the rest of the town pointedly. 

Lizzie's eyes follow it, latching onto the very familiar object clutched in. Her heart stops, and she stares at Josie, her irritation quickly rising into full-blown exasperated anger.

"Are you kidding me?" she asks incredulously, but doesn't give much room for an actual answer.

She quickly steps forward, placing her hands on Josie's arms and turning her around. She then proceeds to push her as quickly as possible toward the far-less occupied space just ahead of them, hidden from sight by some conveniently placed trees. 

"You brought the ascendant out here?" she asks in disbelief once they're safely out of sight, dropping her arms to gesture at it instead. "Do you want someone to notice? Why would you even take it out of our room?"

"Because of this."

Lizzie watches in confusion as Josie shoves the ascendant into Lizzie's hands and starts fiddling with her skirt. She pulls something from it, not bothering to fix her shirt as it hangs over the edge now. It takes Lizzie a second, but she recognizes the piece of paper in her hands. As Josie unfolds it, she notices the black ink scrawled across it where it had been blank before.

"You managed to undo the spell?" she asks, any anger she had quickly dissolving. If Josie was willing to bring the ascendant all the way out just to show her the page, it must mean something good. 

Josie nods. "Yeah, and look what it says."

Lizzie quickly takes the page when she offers it to her. Her eyes scan over the words, taking in the familiar handwriting. Emma's for sure, she would know it anywhere since she's been forced to study it on a board almost every day for the last twelve years.

It's the words themselves that give her pause. Her eyes widen, and her stomach flips, something quickly building inside of her like a game of Tetris, tumbling and unsteady.

"This is a spell into the prison world," she says slowly, her voice quiet as she lifts her eyes back up to meet Josie's. "Like, to actually go into it and walk around. We would be in there. With..."

Josie nods again before she even finishes speaking, her head moving a little too fast as Lizzie falters. There's a glimmer of excitement in her eyes that has that something inside of Lizzie swaying from one side to the other dangerously, another piece tumbling and crashing into the pit. Just the thought of going into that place for real has her stomach lurching. 

"I'm not sure," she admits, shaking her head. "What if something goes wrong? We can't just pull ourselves back or walk around without being seen. We could get hurt in there, Jo, or — we could get stuck. There are just too many ways for this to end badly."

"I understand that, and you're right," Josie says sincerely, much to Lizzie's surprise. Then she continues, her hand reaching for the pocket on her shirt, "and I'll go along with whatever decision you make, but before you make up your mind, you need to see this."

She pulls a little slip of paper out for the second time in a day. Except, it's a little burned around the edges, Lizzie notices as she offers it to her. She hesitates to take it, eyeing it almost warily.

Josie nods encouragingly, and so she hands back the page. She keeps a hold of the ascendant, just in case. But she takes the little piece of paper from her and looks down at it. Right away, she susses it's not the same one with Stefanie's number on it. 

There is writing, though. A message. One that has Lizzie's blood running cold as she reads it. And rereads it. The words are there, in her mind, but they're not sticking. Uncle. Nieces. Come back. Their full first names. She's seriously hoping it isn't what it looks like. It's not possible. 

"Jo," she says slowly, voice quiet as her throat closes up out of fear at what's about to come next, and looks Josie directly in the eyes, "what is this?"

"It's a message," Josie says, starting with the obvious. She pauses as she seems to take in a breath before adding, "from our uncle in the prison world. And — before you say it, I have no idea how he got it over from there. I was just in our room, and it appeared out of nowhere. I guess we now know that at least some sort of magic works in there."

"Yeah, but if he can send a piece of paper with a message over to us, then what the hell else can he do?" Lizzie says, the panic clutching at those blocks and squeezing tightly. "I thought it was a prison. To trap him. He shouldn't be able to do magic or get weird messages over to us!"

Josie barely looks fazed at all by the prospect of what else he could be capable of. And there she was, for years, thinking that Josie was the logical one of the two of them.

"Doesn't this concern you at all?" she presses frantically. "Josie, our biological uncle from the crazy Gemini Coven side of the family is trapped in a freaking prison world created by the rest of the coven, and just sent a message addressed to us, and — we were four when he was thrown in there! How is this not concerning you at least a little bit?"

"It is," Josie says, and she seems to mean it, even as calm as she remains. "Trust me, I am freaking out about this just as much as you are right now. But, Lizzie...this is what we were looking for. Answers. He can give them to us, and, by the looks of the message, he wants to."

Lizzie's mouth opens to argue back, starting to shake her head. But she falters, and the words get tangled up in her throat, because she's not so sure anymore. It still sounds terrifying and probably even more dangerous than just doing the projection spell. And so many things could go wrong.

They could get stuck there without anyone knowing where they are or how to get them back. She isn't even sure they would be able to be pulled out in that case since they would have the ascendant, she thinks. The thought of doing that to their mom and dad, after everything that's happened...

She's back to shaking her head, the uncertainty creeping in, pulling at little pieces of her mind to try and make her decision for her. Josie's watching her expectantly, but patiently waiting. She really is willing to go with whatever decision she makes, even if it's _not _to go. 

Somehow, that makes it clear what one she has to choose. They talked about it, after Triad, after she nearly lost Josie. The promise she made to be a better twin, and take Josie's feelings into consideration. It's clear how important this is to her.

And she would be lying to herself if she said it wasn't to her as well. Maybe this _uncle_ of theirs — Malachai — can tell them more about the merge. He might be able to put an end to this nightmare once and for all, and that's what is most important to Lizzie right now, just below Josie.

Inhaling, she nods, her mind made up. Josie's eyebrows raise in question, and Lizzie glances down at the ascendant in her hands. It feels so much heavier now for some reason. It's probably just the weight of it all getting to her. 

"Okay," she simply says, lifting her eyes back to look into Josie's. "Let's do it. Let's use the spell."

Josie's eyes widen. "Really? You want to go into the prison world and talk to him?"

"Well, I don't really want to," Lizzie quickly says with a half roll of her eyes.

It's the only thing stopping her from backing out, the insistent tugging in her chest back as if trying to warn her. Against her better judgement, and for the first time, she ignores it.

Sighing, she adds, "but I do agree that we need some answers. And mom's still not home despite her saying she would be, dad won't even tell us where she is even though we know what she's been doing now, and neither of them even bothered to mention the ascendant or the prison world or our long-lost uncle, so—"

She takes in another breath, shaking her head again.

"—we have to do this," she finishes, knowing that it's true, whether she likes it or not. It's the only way they'll be able to get even some sort of semblance of the truth, because neither of their parents seems to want to give it to them.

Hearing it all out loud for the first time makes it feel more real and way crazier than she had thought it was. Normal families can't have this many secrets between them. If only one of those creatures that came from Malivore had the ability to change the past, or at least put them in a different reality, even if just temporarily. She would definitely be wishing to see what a version of her life where they both know everything from the start would be like.

Josie's mouth curves into a small, grateful smile, and she gives a single nod in response. Her shoulders rise as she inhales, clearly preparing herself for what comes next. Lizzie isn't sure that anything she does is going to make her feel any better about this. But if it works, then it'll have been worth it.

"Okay, let's do this," Josie says and looks down at the page, reading the spell out loud to her. "_Sangiema Meam Et Nos Mundo Carcerema, Me Liber Nos Ex Carcerem_."

Lizzie nods quickly, taking in the words as Josie repeats them, just to be sure. Then she folds the page again and stuffs it up her sleeve, both of them already memorizing the words. She's hoping they don't mispronounce something. The consequences of that can't be fun, and she would rather not risk finding out the hard way.

Slipping the piece of paper in between her fingers, she shifts the ascendant into the middle of her hands, cupping them around them. She then holds it out, nodding at Josie as she takes in a deep breath, focusing on the way the air moves and the way her chest constricts just a little bit.

Josie carefully places her hands around hers. Instantly, her body wants to pull at the magic lingering underneath Josie's skin, the instincts of siphoning kicking in. She pushes it easily, and swiftly, to the back as she focuses instead on letting the magic in her own system make its way down to her hands. 

It pulses through both of them as they relax, letting their power meld together. It already has a low buzzing starting up in the back of Lizzie's head, rushing through the rest of her as it clings to every inch of her skin. The magic bubbles to the surface, and they both nod this time. 

"_Sangiema Meam Et Nos Mundo Carcerema, Me Liber Nos Ex Carcerem," _they begin chanting together, low and quiet, mindful of the Mystic Falls residents only a few feet away from them. "_Sangiema Meam Et Nos Mundo Carcerema, Me Liber Nos Ex Carcerem_."

Their voices blend together, the chant becoming a low hum as the magic presses like tiny needle-points against the surface of Lizzie's skin. A dull burning sensation has started in the tips of her fingers and her chest, slowly spreading up her arms, clouding her head. 

Their words fill it before the sensation can. The chant becomes less of an incantation and more of a rush of words, being pushed out of their mouths faster than either of them can process them. It's working. She can feel it in the way her head grows heavier for a flicker of the moment, hanging forward as Josie's does the same, the magic slowly leaving them.

"What the _hell_ are you two doing? Are you insane?"

Lizzie's eyes shoot open, as does Josie's. They both turn to look at Stefanie, standing right next to them. Kaleb's by her side and eyeing the ascendant with a crease in his brow, evidently distrustful of it. 

"Get out of here, Stefanie," Lizzie snaps, urgency tugging at her, trying to pull her back to the ascendant. 

"We can explain," Josie says instead, the panic at her seeing them obviously her main priority.

"You're doing magic in the middle of town?" Kaleb questions, quirking an eyebrow at them. "You're really just going all out now that your dad ain't headmaster anymore, aren't you?"

Lizzie shoots him a glare that he just ignores without so much as a look at her.

"Kaleb!" Josie says, her eyes darting to Stefanie pointedly. 

Lizzie rolls her eyes. But she doesn't get the chance to give Josie a quick briefing on Stefanie being in the know about the supernatural, her attention instead drawn to Stefanie, stepping toward them. 

"What even is this thing?" Stefanie questions with an almost amused look of curiosity directed at the ascendant. She starts to reach out to it as she glances between the two of them with raised eyebrows. "I've never seen a spell that involves anything like this befo—"

"No!" Josie and Lizzie both shout, but Stefanie's already poking at the ascendant with an outstretched finger. 

It just happens to have been one of the sharp corners. Stefanie hisses, quickly retracting her hand. She stares at her finger in confusion, a small drop of blood shining against the pad of it. Lizzie groans, noticing the dark red splotch on the ascendant, illuminated by the light of the full moon hung high in the sky above them.

"You got blood on it! Great, now you've probably just gone and ruined the whole thing."

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," Stefanie shoots back sarcastically. "Mind telling me what the shady magical object that just—"

She doesn't manage to finish her sentence as the ascendant clicks. They all fall silent and look down at it. It does it again, one of the metal loops turning and settling with another click. In the blink of an eye, it expands outwards, whirring, pieces moving and shifting.

"What the fu—" A bright light shoots out from the ascendant, cutting Lizzie off, and everything disappears. 

* * *

Caroline can't help but stare down at her phone in her lap. She took it out at least half an hour ago with the intent of calling Alaric to update him on everything, but a part of her wondered if maybe a text would make it less likely for an argument to start up again, and now she can't even bring herself to pick it back up. 

He deserves to know what's going. Lizzie and Josie are his kids. Her heart clenches just thinking that. They're her kids, too, a little voice in the back of her mind tries to argue, but she isn't so sure if it's right. It's the one thing that Alaric always likes to hint at when they're in a bad place, and she's really not sure she can handle having it thrown in her face right now, even if only through implication.

She has to call him, she decides. It's not something she can just text him.

Her hands move to pick the phone up. What if he's busy? Her hands still. He said he would start looking for someone to take over the school for just a little while, even though she may already have someone and has contacted them, but she's part of the reason he has to do that at all, so maybe she shouldn't interrupt him. 

Or he could be waiting in fear over what's going on and if she's actually found something. She told him not to call or text until she called him when she found out more, but she couldn't bring herself to do it then, and now he must be thinking all kinds of things. She has to call him.

Her hands don't move this time. She bites her lip, staring down at the black screen. Just thirteen more hours on the road, Freya told her when she offered up her car. She'll be home in less than a day. Maybe it'll be easier to explain in person. 

"I think you should call him," Bonnie says quietly. 

Caroline lifts her eyes from her phone to look at her, letting her lip go. "Really? What if it just ends up the same way as it did on the plane? I tried explaining it to him, but he just wouldn't listen to me. How am I supposed to tell him what's going on?"

"He'll listen this time," Bonnie assures her. "Care, we've found it. Lizzie and Josie aren't going to have to merge. He'll be relieved. Trust me. Call him. You can even put me on the phone if he starts again."

Nodding slowly, Caroline forces herself to pick her phone up. She pauses for just a moment once she pulls his number up. Bonnie gives an encouraging nod, and she hits call before she can change her mind. This is the right thing to do.

"Start with the good news," she says to herself as she holds her phone to her ear, trying to calm her too-fast heartbeat. She misses Kol's eyeroll in the front seat of the car as she tries to keep her breathing steady. "Good news is always a good place to start."

It rings, and rings, and continues to for a good few seconds, doing nothing to ease the nauseating turning in her stomach.

"Just pick up," she pushes out in a half groan through her teeth, trying to keep herself calm.

As if waiting for her command, it cuts out halfway through another ring. Her breath catches, her eyes widening a little. Good news, she reminds herself. It'll be fine. 

"Hey, Care," Alaric says, and relief hits her at the apologetic tone. That's a better start than she was expecting. "Look, before you say anything, I just wanna say — about yesterday, I didn't mean to take things out on you like that. I wasn't listening to you when I should have been, and you're...you're doing everything you can. So, I'm sorry."

Something instantly softens in Caroline as she ignores Kol's scoff. 

"I'm sorry, too," she says, shaking her head despite him not being able to see her. "I should have called to tell you that we had to go to New Zealand. But, that's why I'm calling you now."

"Yeah?" Alaric says. "What's going on?"

"Well, for one, I'm sitting in a car with three Mikaelsons," she says, her eyebrows raising a little.

She imagines his own shooting up his forehead in surprise, and him blinking a few times as his mouth opens and closes, unsure of how best to respond. Sure enough, there's a slight pause on the other end. She smiles.

"That's, uh...why exactly?" he asks, the concern clear in his voice. "Not that I don't trust your ability to look after yourself, because, I definitely do, but — three Mikaelsons? There's only two of them left and neither of them were that fond of either of us in the past."

"Still not that fond of you, to be honest, mate," Kol calls back to him.

"That was Kol, wasn't it?" Alaric asks right away. "Great. Is the other one Rebekah? She was usually the nicer one, right?"

Kol scoffs again, half of a laugh this time as he turns to look back at her. "Bekah? The nice one? I think you're remembering her a bit differently. She's tall, blonde, and crazy, though not to be mistaken for our mother who shared all of those traits with my dear sister."

Caroline rolls her eyes as Alaric sighs. She pulls the phone away from her ear, hitting the speaker button. If Kol's going to be hijacking her call, she might as well make sure they can all hear the other end of it. 

"I'm with Freya," she answers in response to his question, her eyes flicking to the front seat of the car. "I don't think you've ever met her, but she's the non-vampire one. And the nicest one, for the record."

Freya smiles at her in the mirror. Kol rolls his eyes.

"I remember that name," Alaric says, and Caroline eyes the phone in confusion. "Are you sure I never met her? I'm picturing blonde hair, a bit darker than Rebekah's? Slightly intimidating? She's a witch, right?"

"That I am," Freya says, her smile staying in place. "And thank you for that. It's always good to hear a man call me intimidating; reminds me I'm doing something right. And, for the record, you do sound strangely familiar."

"Well, then I have no idea how," Caroline says, brushing it off with the little reminder of how she feels like she already knows her too well for someone she just met less than two hours ago, "but hey, it's a small world. Maybe you've also met the other Mikaelson. Davina Claire. She and Kol are married."

She can just see the disbelief on Alaric's face. 

"Married?" he repeats before he can stop himself. He quickly clears his throat as he corrects himself, saying, "I mean...that's great. I...I can't say I've met her before."

"We haven't," Davina says from Caroline's left, a smile on her face. "Though, I've certainly heard a lot about you."

Alaric chuckles nervously at that, and it's taking everything in Caroline not laugh. Bonnie covers her mouth with her hand, her eyebrows raising in feigned innocence when Caroline glances at her, pressing her own lips together in an attempt to not even grin. 

"That's fantastic," he mutters. "So, uh...Caroline? What exactly is going on right now? And why does it require three Mikaelsons? Please tell me that Bonnie is still with you."

"Oh, I'm still here," Bonnie answers for her. "And very mad at you, for the record."

"That sounds about right," he says without missing a beat, almost resigned.

"We're on our way to Mystic Falls right now," Caroline tells him. "We'll be there in about...thirteen hours, I think, depending on traffic. Freya offered to drive, and I just can't handle another plane right now. I think I officially hate travelling."

"Yeah, well, ten-years worth of flights will probably do that to anyone. But, you're on your way home?" he asks, an edge of something in his voice. "Does that mean...?"

Good news or bad news, she knows he's asking. It's obvious by the way he asks it, though, and the fact that he's now aware that she and Bonnie aren't the only two on their way to him, that he's got a good guess at what the answer is already. Still, Caroline's stomach twists as excitement builds and flutters as if developing little wings, and she nods.

"We've found it, Ric," she says quietly. "There's a way to undo the curse. The girls won't have to do the merge. Ever."

Silence falls over both of them and throughout the entire car. Kol doesn't even try and make some sort of quip or snarky remark. She almost thinks he's listening along with her to the shift on the other line. Bonnie takes her hand gently in one of her own, squeezing lightly as they all seem to wait for the response. Waiting for it all to really sink in, because even Caroline's just processing her own words for the first time. 

It's hit her before, but not like this. They've found a way to stop all of it. The one thing they never truly thought they would be able to prevent, no matter how hard they tried. This is really it.

There's a quiet exhale from the other end of the call, and Caroline's chest loosens along with it. For the first time in a long while, she wishes they were face-to-face so that she could see the relief, could see her own emotions mirrored back to her on his face as they both realize that their daughters are going to get to live.

"Seriously?" he asks, his voice strained. "You're absolutely sure?"

Caroline nods vigorously, her eyes burning beneath her eyelids. "Yeah. We're absolutely positive."

There's another exhale, followed by a low, disbelieving chuckle that says everything that he clearly can't even being to form into a coherent sentence right now. She joins him, another pang of relief washing over her as her vision blurs slightly. Bonnie gives her hand another gentle squeeze, and she feels Davina shifting, there for her on her other side.

"God," Alaric breathes out, his voice still shaking, and she's sure that he's crying at least a little as well. "Uh, right. Okay—uh, so—so how do we do it? Is it—is it something the girls need to be there for or can it be done without them?"

"It'll be better if they're there," Kol says from the front.

"Yeah, they have to be there," Davina agrees. "The spell might not work otherwise since it's undoing a curse put on them. Plus, the siphoner needs something to actually siphon from while it's being done, so..."

"Siphoner?" Alaric questions.

"We'll explain all of the details in a minute — or once we're there," Caroline shakes her head, slowing herself a little as her words come out too fast. She presses her fingers to her temple, her eyes fluttering closed as she takes in a slow breath.

Bonnie's hand joins her other, holding onto her arm gently with a look of concern. Caroline just shakes her head discreetly, feeling her burning gaze on her along with Davina's. She still hasn't fed since yesterday morning, and it's making her head spin. The small gesture seems to be enough for Bonnie to understand and just holds her arm a little more comfortingly.

"Right, yeah," Alaric says, his own words rushed and a little over the place. "Okay, I'm going to tell the girls. Do you want me to keep you on the phone while I do?"

"Yes," Caroline says before the last word has fully left his mouth. "Yes, please. I don't think I can wait thirteen more hours."

"Twelve and a half, actually," Freya says as she takes a right turn and circles the roundabout before slipping onto the highway.

It's still raining, and the sky's pitch black now. Caroline would be concerned about them crashing, but Freya seems to be a rather skilled driver in rain. She has a feeling there might be some sort of protection spell around the car because the second she stepped inside, she got the familiar tell-tale burn to her skin that she usually does around witch magic.

"Okay, right, they should be up in their room," Alaric says.

She hears the sounds of him moving, quick footsteps on wooden floors. The background is filled with quiet chatter, the odd laugh being thrown in as he makes his way down the halls of the school. It makes her heart ache for it. 

She leans back in her seat, her head gently hitting the cushioned rest behind her. The plan was never to be away this long. They were hopeful that it would only take a few months at most. Not ten years. She never started travelling fully until recently, but it's only gotten worse over the years. Every time she visits, she never wants to leave. Lizzie and Josie, the school, the students. She never even has the time to really get to know the new ones who've joined them. 

Her eyes move around the car, out the windscreen, and the window at Bonnie's side, but her ears stay focused on the sounds of the school and Alaric's footsteps on the creaky stairs. There are a few greetings to him on the way by, warm but somewhat nervous and sheepish. 

She can't help but grimace. It must be horrible for him to continue walking around the school right now after what happened. It's going to be some time, she's sure, before things can go back to the way they were. If they ever can at all.

"Lizzie, Josie," he calls out to them, and Caroline sits upright, readying herself to tell them everything. 

There's the sound of a door being pushed open. Then a pause. 

"Huh."

Caroline stares at the phone. "_Huh_? Why huh? What's wrong?"

"No, nothing," he assures her, "they're just... not here. They're probably in the library. I'll just go and..."

He pauses again. Caroline exchanges a confused look with Bonnie. 

"Ric?" she says slowly and gives a nervous laugh. "What's going on over there? You know I'm not great with silence."

Kol makes a noise and she's sure he's agreeing with her, but Freya hits his arm lightly to shut him up. 

"There's just something..." he starts, but doesn't finish, trailing off again.

Caroline has to press her lips together as footsteps carry over the call. She waits, her eyebrows raised.

There's the sound of material shifting, the noises slightly muffled, and she guesses he's placed the phone down. It's followed by the scrape of wood against wood, something being moved. She sits in the pause, trying to listen for another noise. 

"Oh no," Alaric says quietly. "No, no, no."

Caroline's heart jumps. "What? Ric, what's wrong?"

"I — one of the panels wasn't quite in the right place underneath Josie's window, so I just checked to see if something was wrong and — and it just came off, and — I don't even know how, I swear, but they have the Grimoire," he says in a rush, the panic quickly scaling his voice. 

Caroline's eyes widen and Bonnie's hands go still. 

"They have the _what_?" Caroline asks, because they can't be thinking of the same thing. "Please tell me you mean one of the ones from their classes, Ric."

"No, I mean the one that should still be cloaked in the office right now."

"What's the big deal with this particular Grimoire?" Kol asks curiously, furrowing his eyebrows at her.

Caroline opens her mouth to answer him, but Bonnie's hands tighten a little on her arm, one back to gripping her hand. 

"The ascendant," she breathes out, her eyes wide as Caroline turns to look at her. "Caroline, the ascendant. If they found the Grimoire, then that means—"

"They could have found it as well," she finishes for her, her heart leaping into her throat. She turns them back on the phone, pulling it closer to her. "Ric, please tell me—"

"Already on it," he says, and sure enough, loud footsteps follow as he races out of the room and down the stairs.

Caroline closes her eyes again as she forces herself to take in even breaths, but her heart is beating too fast for the little amount of blood she has in her system, and it feels like her insides are swaying from side to side like a ship on rocky waters.

"When you say ascendant," Kol says, "what exactly do you mean by that? I've heard of the things before, but..."

"It's the key into a prison world," Bonnie quickly explains. "I created it along with the help of Caroline's twins, to trap their uncle."

Kol raises his eyebrows. "Sounds harsh. An entire world as his prison? What did he do to deserve that?"

"Oh, well, let's see," Bonnie feigns thought, her head tilting, and Caroline quickly hits the mute button. "Let's start with how he murdered nearly his entire family in cold-blood and killed his twin sister on her wedding day. While she was pregnant. With Caroline's twins, who — he tried to kill again when they were four."

"Bonnie," Caroline says, forcing her eyes back open. She shoots a pointed nod down at the phone, and Bonnie's expression quickly shifts, regret spreading across her face even if Alaric wasn't able to hear a word of it. It still makes her sick to her stomach just to hear it all.

"I might need you to explain the whole magical twin thing again," Kol tells them.

"Kol," Davina says incredulously. 

He lifts his shoulders in confusion, obviously unable to see what he did wrong. Caroline just shakes her head, swallowing down the lump in her throat.

"It doesn't matter right now," she says. "All that matters is that their uncle was a sociopathic murderer who hurt too many people. That's why we locked him away using the ascendant. But the Grimoire was one of Bonnie's, and the only thing that has the spell they need to use the ascendant. If they have both of them—"

"I'm in the office," Alaric cuts her off, his breathing sounding laboured.

Caroline glances from the phone to Bonnie, the rest of her sentence immediately forgotten as they wait. If she didn't already feel nauseous before, she certainly does now. The car is filled with the sounds of him hurrying through the room, over to that unit that Caroline can see clearly in her mind. That little box should be right there, cloaked from sight on the middle shelf. She gnaws at the nail of her thumb as she listens to the sound of books being pulled out, thrown to the floor with a dull thud. 

Everything goes quiet. Caroline's heart drops into her stomach which plummets right through the bottom of the still speeding car. She faintly appreciates Freya's ability to stay focused on the road even while they're all panicking in her back seat.

She listens to the silence, receiving an answer from it. She bites the tip of her tongue to try and force back the stinging in her eyes, blinking rapidly. Pressing her lips together, she swallows then speaks.

"It's gone," she says tightly, the words forced through her teeth as she tries to stay calm, "isn't it?"

A beat passes, but in it, she hears Alaric's shaking inhale, and the despairing exhale he pushes back out a second later.

"Yeah," he says solemnly, his voice barely above a whisper. "Yeah, it's gone."

"They know about Kai," Caroline says, more to herself. "They know we lied to them. And they have everything they need to get to him."

"Maybe not..." 

Caroline turns her head to look at Bonnie. Her eyebrows furrow as Bonnie looks down, something close to guilt flickering across her face, and then it comes back to her. 

"They might not have the spell to actually get into the Prison World," she tells them as she lifts her head back up, widening her eyes for emphasis, to remind her. "I took the page with the spell out of it."

Caroline is ready to sink back in relief, except Bonnie still looks worried.

"You what?" Alaric asks, the information a revelation to him. "And — you never thought to tell us that?"

"I was worried about something exactly like this happening," she explains, carefully leaving out the part where she did tell Caroline. It was her suggestion not to tell Alaric, knowing that he wouldn't be okay with it. "I didn't want to risk Kai getting out. So, I ripped the page out. It's in my bag."

Caroline hopes her expression conveys how grateful she is. If Alaric knew that she knew about Bonnie taking the page, he would be furious with her. But she knew it was for the best at the time, and telling him seemed so unnecessary when the possibility of them ever actually finding the ascendant or the Grimoire was more than unlikely. She hadn't banked on this.

"But I did give Emma a copy of it," Bonnie adds.

Caroline blinks, her heart stopping for what feels like the millionth time in far too-short of a time span. She didn't know about that part. Or did she? She thinks she can vaguely recall Bonnie mentioning something about making sure there was a back-up for it or something like that.

"Just in case something went wrong and I couldn't get there in time," Bonnie explains, lining up with Caroline's thoughts. "I wanted to make sure there was a way for someone to be able to get there if they had to. It was stupid, I know, and — the twins might have found it now for all we know."

"Oh great, so we're back to square one," Alaric says.

"Aren't we forgetting one big thing needed for the ascendant to actually work?" Davina pipes up from Caroline's other side, surprising everyone with how quiet she had been until now. 

All eyes — except for Freya's, thankfully — turn on her in her confusion. She glances between them all, her eyebrows lifting slightly as she shakes her head.

"Bennett blood," she says like it's obvious. "The ascendant only works so long as blood from a Bennett witch is used."

Caroline's eyes widen an inch more. She has no idea how she managed to forget that. It was the main reason Kai was so obsessed with Bonnie; he knew that, without her blood, he couldn't escape his own personal hell. And no one could get in.

"How the hell do you know that?" Kol asks, his eyebrows furrowing at her. "And how much do you know about this bloody prison world that you didn't bother to mention before?"

"I'm a witch," she simply says before turning back to Caroline and Bonnie. "Your daughters having the ascendant and the spell isn't enough, even on a full moon like tonight. They would have to have the blood of a Bennett witch. So, there's a good chance nothing is going to happen."

In Caroline's moment of hopefulness, her mind had gone blank and forgotten. She and Bonnie look at each other, both knowing, the fear returning and squeezing her throat, and her lungs, and she can't quite breathe.

"Actually, that's where we have a problem again," Alaric says, "because the last time I checked, there are two Bennett's right here in town, both of them pretty damn close to Lizzie and Josie. Although, one of them's more of an ex-witch, so I'm not entirely sure if that'll still work."

"Hold on," Kol turns to stare at Bonnie, disbelief lacing his voice, "you have a _child_? Two of them, for that matter? Who on earth is the father?"

"I only have one," Bonnie says, then quickly looks away from him. "Look — Ric, you have to find Kaleb. I don't know if his blood will still work now that he's a vampire, but I don't want to risk it either."

Kol practically scoffs with delight despite the situation, his face brightening.

"Your child is a vampire?" he asks, leaning a little further around his seat. "Well, that's fairly ironic, though the whole witch becomes a vampire thing usually is. And sad, really. How did it happen?"

"Kol, can you stop being an insensitive asshole for just a minute?" Freya snaps at him, throwing him a glare.

It works, too. He goes quiet and sinks back a little, but doesn't fully turn around. Even Davina's shooting him an exasperated look that seems to have some sort of effect on him.

"Honestly, I don't think Kaleb wants to be in the same room as me right now," Alaric says in response to Bonnie, his voice bordering on bitter and irritated for a brief moment. "I'll try and find him, but — what exactly do you want me to tell him?"

"The truth," Bonnie says without missing a beat. "He told me over the summer how he helped you out a few times, so just tell him the truth about this, no keeping any of it out. Just keep him from going near the ascendant, and don't let him put himself in any more danger; his parents are trusting me to keep him safe while he's in Mystic Falls."

"Wait," Kol points at Bonnie, "so, the vampire isn't your child?"

"No, he's her cousin, now shut up," Caroline quickly answers for her, her panic only increasing more and more the longer that they talk. Kol once again goes quiet, holding his hand up in mock surrender this time.

"I'm on my way to his room," Alaric tells them, "hopefully he's actually there. But — what do you want me to do about Stefanie? She's not exactly a student here, and she could be anywhere. As in, with Lizzie and Josie right this very second."

"Don't worry, they don't get along," Bonnie says, dismissing even the idea, though a hint of worry creeps through anyway.

Caroline's head tilts, looking at her. Bonnie just raises her shoulders in a helpless little shrug, making a face as if to say that she has no idea why either. Caroline supposes it probably doesn't help that the only time they've had them spend together is at forced holidays, and even then, they would find a way to avoid each other or end up arguing within an hour. They weren't the only ones either.

"Yeah, well, Lizzie isn't exactly fond of Kaleb either," Alaric points out. "All they need is a drop of her blood, Bonnie."

"Isn't Damon keeping an eye on her?" Caroline asks, aiming it at Bonnie. "Between him and Enzo, there's no way that she could possibly get anywhere near Lizzie and Josie. Especially not on a full moon, he still doesn't trust the fact that we have at least fifteen werewolves at the school, and that's not even mentioning how cautious he is about the vampires."

"I'm sorry, last time, I swear," Kol glances between the two of them, "but please tell me that you didn't just imply that Damon Salvatore is the father of your child? I must have picked that up wrong."

"Are you seriously incapable of being quiet for more than five minutes?" Freya asks, then rolls her eyes, quickly answering herself with a sigh, and saying, "of course you are, you're you."

Caroline closes her eyes, taking in a deep, slow breath while Bonnie rolls her eyes. 

"Yes, Damon is the father of my child," she tells him, "now will you be quiet? We have a bit of a bigger issue here if you hadn't noticed already."

She waits for his response, raising her eyebrows. He nods this time and doesn't say anything, silently agreeing not to despite the look of complete and utter disbelief on his face as he clearly tries to process through that. 

Caroline opens her eyes as Bonnie nods back in evident relief and goes to turn back to her. A faint buzzing fills the air, though, and Bonnie presses her lips together tightly, her own eyes closing for just a second. She then turns back around, quickly pulling her phone from her bag. 

Caroline's eyes dart over the screen. Perfect timing.

Bonnie answers without hesitation, and Caroline lets her hearing divide between listening for any little noise from Alaric's end, and Bonnie's conversation. She unmutes their side for Alaric, just in case.

"Damon? Scarily good and bad timing," Bonnie says to him. 

His voice is crystal clear to Caroline's heightened hearing, picking up every word he says. "I would ask what that means, but I'm afraid we have a bit of a problem, Bon-Bon."

"Oh no," Bonnie groans, her eyes rolling up the ceiling of the car, "what's wrong?"

Damon falters, obviously trying to find the right words to explain whatever situation he's gotten into that Caroline is sure is about to make theirs so much worse.

"He lost Stefanie," Enzo's voice pipes up in the background, almost bordering on accusing. It's overpowered by panic and worry, shining through in his voice even over the phone.

"I did not — _we_!" Damon shouts back at him. "_We_ lost Stefanie! You were supposed to be making sure she didn't sneak out as well. And what's your excuse anyway, huh? I'm human, remember? You still have vampire senses, so, tell me, how did she slip past you,_ oh great one_?"

"I was busy making dinner because_ you_ came home late from the Grill," Enzo says irritably. "You were the one who was supposed to be in the same bloody room as her."

"Guys, please," Bonnie says, her voice staying level despite their rising ones. "The blame game isn't going to help right now. Just...tell me what happened. What do you mean you lost her?"

Before either of them can answer, Alaric's speaking up again, drawing Caroline's attention back to their call.

"I'm sorry," he says, "did Bonnie just say that Damon and Enzo lost Stefanie? As in, neither of them have any idea where she is, meaning she could be with Lizzie and Josie right now?"

"No, no, don't worry about that," Caroline quickly says, her insides twisting as she considers the possibility that he's right. "Just find Kaleb. He might at least know where the girls are if he's not with them."

"Okay, look, I'm gonna call you back, alright?" he says hurriedly. "It'll be faster if I'm not worried about what's going on over there. I will call you back the second I find them or Kaleb, I promise, alright?"

Caroline nods despite every part of her wanting to insist he stay on the phone. 

"Yeah, yeah, of course. Go. Please, just find them."

He ends the call at last. Caroline's chest constricts, her lungs aching, and she closes her eyes for a moment. Her heart's still pounding against her ribcage, unrelenting. It's making her light-headed, and a part of her is glad that she's already sitting down, otherwise, she might actually collapse. 

Bonnie eyes her worriedly, and Caroline knows that because she pauses in her answer to the thing that Damon just said. Caroline places her hand on top of hers in assurance, but keeps her eyes closed for a moment longer, trying to let herself calm down at least a little more first.

"Okay, if you think she's at the town event, then go," Bonnie says to Damon. "Lizzie and Josie might be with her, so you need to get to them as quickly as you can."

"Lizzie and Josie?" Damon repeats in obvious confusion. "Why would they be there? You know how strict Ric is about letting them go to those things, and, no offence to him or Caroline, but Stefanie doesn't exactly like them all that much."

"They have the ascendant, Damon," Bonnie finally tells him, quiet. "And we think they might have the spell to open the prison world."

He falters, the other line going deathly quiet. Never a good sign when it comes to Damon. Caroline can see his reaction in her eyelids, that seething anger burning in his eyes. The way they widen just a fraction, caught off-guard, and from the tiniest hint of fear at what it could mean before his jaw tightens.

"I will find her," he says lowly, his words a promise. "That prison world is not going to be opened, Bonnie. That bastard will never get out of there. We'll find her."

"I hope you do," she says. 

"Enzo's gonna do a speed-search around town while I try and call her. We'll call you back. We love you, Bon. Keep us updated, alright?"

She agrees, and they end the call. Silence falls over the car once more. No one dares to try and disturb it, the tension that swirls in the air thick and heavy like wet mud trying to encase them. Even Kol doesn't try and make some comment now, completely quiet as he stares at the space between his and Freya's seats. 

There are too many things bouncing around in Caroline's head. This isn't how it was supposed to go. They were so close. Just twelve or so more hours and they would have been home, breaking the curse and freeing Lizzie and Josie from all of this. It never occurred to her that they would somehow get even more wrapped up in it all. 

They'll know that she and Alaric lied to them. They know about Kai. She has no idea how much they know about him, and she honestly isn't sure what she would prefer. But the thought of them even coming face-to-face with him again for just a second makes her burn with anger, sick to her stomach. 

He should never be allowed to even think of them again, never mind meet them. Her heart jumps a beat as it really hits her. They could meet him. He could finish what he tried to accomplish all those years ago. She squeezes her eyes shut as if it'll help block the thought out and maybe wish it out of existence at the same time. 

"They'll find them," Bonnie says quietly, her hand shifting underneath her own to face palm-up and hold onto it better. "It's going to be okay. We're so close, Care. They'll call back and everything will be fine."

Caroline wants to believe her — more than anything does she want to believe her, because Bonnie's always right, and she has to be about this. There's just no other alternative. But there's still a little part of her that can't quite bring herself to have as much faith as Bonnie does, even if it's forced for her sake.

She turns her head to look at her and is met with hopeful eyes that are only masking the fear underneath. Lizzie and Josie going to the prison world wouldn't only affect Caroline or them. Stefanie, as well. And if Kai got out, it wouldn't only be them he could try and hurt all over again.

"Yeah," she says, and forces a small flicker of a smile, "yeah, you're right. It's going to be okay."

Bonnie seems grateful for the attempt at comforting her, even if neither of them were successful.

"Not to make the situation worse," Freya says, turning everyone's eyes to her, "but it's still going to be another twelve hours until we reach Mystic Falls. Now, with everything that's happening, I think that maybe catching a flight would be a better option here. It would only take another two hours or so."

Caroline's shoulders collapse. She hadn't even thought about that. Twelve hours. That's too long. Anything could happen in twelve hours. The same can be said for two hours, she knows, but at least they would be there far sooner.

"I think that's a good idea," Bonnie agrees with her and looks at Caroline for her response. 

All she can do is nod. The faster they get home, the better. Freya glances at the two of them in the mirror and seems to get the message. She turns the car down the first exit on their left with the sign stating that the next airport is seventy miles away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND THEY ARE IN THE PRISON WORLD AT LAST! Are we excited about that or absolutely terrified of them running into Kai? I mean, the last time he saw them in person, he tried to kill them, so that's really not boding well. And Alaric and Caroline finally know!! ALL OF THE DRAMA IS GOING DOWN!! Tell what you're looking forward to or any thoughts on what's happened so far, please, I'm so excited!! ❤


	15. I don't think it's convenience that brought her here

Josie's caught off-guard by the way her stomach lurches like she's being dragged by an invisible hook, and then her entire body goes with it. The bright white light is gone in the blink of an eye, and yet, traces of it linger beneath her eyelids. She's just trying to focus on not throwing up.

The second that her feet feel like they're back on solid ground rather than floating in an abyss of nothing but light, she stumbles and nearly falls over. She's quick to catch her balance, her hand reaching out and grabbing at the nearest thing to her.

By the feel of it — because her eyes still aren't adjusting and she can't bring herself to look up from the ground that's definitely underneath her feet — that thing is someone's arm. 

"Oh my god," she hears Lizzie say from somewhere in front of her, her voice as disoriented as Josie feels as she steadies herself. "What the hell was that? I think I'm gonna pass out."

"Join the club," Kaleb's voice calls back to her in a groan.

"What kind of magic was that?" Stefanie asks from Josie's right, her voice turning into a whine as she seems to agree with them. "Oh god, I think I need to sit down."

Josie manages to collect herself back together as best she can. Swallowing down the feeling at the back of her throat, she lifts her head, letting herself adjust again. She doesn't let go of the arm keeping her upright. A quick glance confirms that it's Stefanie she grabbed onto, and who seems to be using her for the exact same purpose, her hand wrapped tightly around Josie's wrist.

Despite what she said, Stefanie stays standing, her other hand pressed to her forehead with her eyes squeezed shut. Josie forces herself to take a breath in as her eyes dart around. Lizzie's turned sideways, her hand on Kaleb's arm, fingers curled in a vice-like grip by the looks of it as she does the same, breathing slowly. Kaleb doesn't seem to mind and looks to be the least disoriented of them all. He glances at Lizzie, his hands hovering near her as he helps her steady herself.

Everything's so much quieter, Josie notices. Silent compared to the chatter and laughter and sounds of enjoyment that had been filling the town square just moments ago. All that can be heard is the noises they themselves are making as they slowly recover from whatever just happened.

Josie lets her eyes drift from them. It takes her a moment to fully take in their surroundings. And the fact that nothing has changed. They're still surrounded by trees, the light from the moon still shining down to illuminate their little hiding spot, almost as blinding as the light from the ascendant. As far as she can tell, they're still in the middle of town.

She drops her arm at last, letting go of Stefanie as she steps away from their group. Her eyes roam over everything in confusion until she realizes what's different. It's not just silent. It's empty. 

Through the gaps in the trees, she can see the town square where everyone had been gathered, lounging about on the grass as they enjoyed the town's festivities for whatever reason the event was being held. Something to do with a comet, maybe, or some planets aligning. But now, there isn't a person in sight. Not even a trace that there had been any in the first place. 

It worked. Relief starts to kick in, a surge of excitement shooting through her. Her eyes widen. Her momentary relief and surprise are quickly replaced by panic. It _worked_. She spins back around to face Lizzie, Kaleb and Stefanie. This wasn't the plan. 

"Okay, one of you better explain what the hell is going on right now," Kaleb says, his eyes moving to Josie, evidently deeming her in more of a state to answer. "What was that thing?"

Josie opens her mouth to try and come up with some sort of answer, but his words finally register in her head. The panic quickly seizes at her as she looks down at her empty hands. She glances at Lizzie, but there's no sign of it on her either.

"It's an ascendant," Lizzie tells him, peeking one eye open as she grimaces. "It's like a magical key."

"A magical key?" Stefanie repeats warily. "To what, exactly? Hell? Because I'm pretty sure that's where I am right now."

Lizzie somehow still manages to roll her eyes while Josie searches desperately around them. The grass shines and almost sparkles underneath the beams of moonlight, but there's no glint of metal, no golden looking objects half-hidden around their feet. She glances up worriedly, but no one else has even noticed their surroundings yet. 

"To a prison world," Lizzie says snarkily in response to Stefanie.

She pulls her hand away from Kaleb, now balanced, but he waits a moment longer before lowering his own. He stares at her with furrowed eyebrows, his eyes darting over to Stefanie as they share an unreadable look that Josie can only translate to confusion and a hint of concern.

"Prison world?" Kaleb repeats, looking questioningly between Lizzie and Josie. 

"It was created by our relatives," Josie answers this time, resigning herself to the fact that the ascendant is nowhere to be found. "See, our mom isn't our biological mother. We were sort of magically transplanted into her. Our bio mom was part of this coven — the Gemini Coven. And they were the ones who created this place. We're just...not sure how, or why."

"Jo!" Lizzie exclaims and makes a pointed and not-at-all discreet gesture towards Kaleb and Stefanie. "Don't you remember our agreement? We don't tell anyone about our crazy family history. Especially not Stefanie freaking Salvatore!"

"You know, I can't believe you're still choosing to go by that," Kaleb says, turning to her with an arched eyebrow. "You're a Bennett, it's practically tradition to go by that, no matter what other last names are in the family. Or at the very least, Salvatore-Bennett or whatever.

"Salvatore reminds my dad more of his brother," Stefanie says with a shrug. "Besides, it's only at school. It's hilarious to see people's faces when they hear my last name."

"Yeah, but it also reminds people of your connection to the Salvatore School," Kaleb points out.

Stefanie pauses, her mouth opening as if to argue, only for her to realize she can't. Lizzie blanches, and it's clear that it had slipped her mind that Stefanie was in any way connected to their home. That people from Mystic Falls High wouldn't only be associating them with rich, stuck-up kids, but also Stefanie's family. 

"Oh god," Lizzie mutters, "I think I'm actually going to throw up."

Josie shakes her head and simply turns back to her. "Look, I know we said we wouldn't tell anyone, but I think they deserve to know some of it considering they're in here with us."

The words catch in the air, everyone stopping. Lizzie's eyes widen. They all turn their heads, their eyes moving to quickly take in their surroundings for confirmation. Josie just waits, fiddling with her hands. Which she is now realizing are completely empty. The page from the Grimoire is gone, too. She tells herself to stay. calm. She can already feel that she's going to have to be the level-headed one to assure them that everything's fine while they freak out.

"Wait, what do you mean '_in here'_?" Stefanie asks, glancing at her in panic. "Please tell me that you didn't just bring us into an alternate dimension with you."

"It still worked," Lizzie breathes out, ignoring her. "I thought maybe the blood would have tainted the spell, but — it worked."

"Uh, I don't think you're seeing that as enough of a problem," Kaleb says, holding out a hand as he glances between the two of them warily. "We don't even know what this place is and you just brought us here with no warning. So, if you'd kindly take us back. Like, right now."

Stefanie nods in agreement, her head tipped back as she looks up. "Yeah, that would be really great. I'm all in for that plan."

Josie and Lizzie both falter this time. They glance at each other, exchanging a nervous look. It's surprising that they hadn't thought about it until now, but the realization is finally dawning on them. Maybe a few minutes too late. 

Kaleb stares at them. His shoulders drop. "Please tell me that one of you knows how to get us out here."

They both stay quiet, and Josie drops her eyes to the ground, unable to hold his questioning stare. Lizzie, on the other hand, gives a half-shrug of sorts as if helpless, offering him a sheepish smile and an attempt at a nervous chuckle. Stefanie joins him in his hard stare, the panic evident on her face.

"You don't know how to get back out of here?" she asks, her tone bordering on accusing. "So, you just decided to perform some magic in the middle of town and drag us along with you?"

"Hey, you're the one who interrupted us and then just had to touch the ascendant," Lizzie quickly snaps. "It's not exactly like we want you here either, so—"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll just go home," Stefanie says, widening her eyes. "Oh wait. I can't. Because you don't even know the spell for how to get out of an entirely different world that your crazy relatives created! Real smart move there, Lizzie, wanna try out anything else?"

"How about punching you in the face? That sounds like a _lot_ of fun."

She's already lunging for her, and Stefanie's quick to react, moving to retaliate. Josie's eyes widen. She and Kaleb both rush forward to stop them, caught in the midst of their screams as they pull at each other. Lizzie's hand briefly tugs at Stefanie's hair, and Stefanie rakes a hand across Lizzie's face, pushing her back. 

They completely ignore both of them as Lizzie scoffs in outrage at the three little red marks quickly brightening on her left cheek, barely bleeding. She shakes Josie's hand off of her arm and is flying at Stefanie again as she moves to duck and grab her.

Josie quickly slips in between them at the opportunity while Kaleb manages to get a good enough hold on Lizzie to pull her back a few stumbling steps. She struggles against his arms around her, groaning and still throwing curses and insults at Stefanie. Kaleb quickly bends his head, whispering to her while keeping his eyes on Stefanie. It makes her pause.

Josie has to reach behind her when Stefanie tries to make her move out of the way, ready to lunge forward again. For someone two years younger than them, she sure has a lot of energy and strength. Lizzie screams, but Josie knows it's not to try and attack again when a flash of pain shoots right through her skull, blinding and constricting her breathing.

"Stefanie!" Kaleb shouts at her, his eyes wide and looking from Josie to Lizzie in alarm. "Stop!"

The pain immediately dies down in Josie's head as Kaleb snaps Stefanie out of it. The air returns to her lungs in a rush, making her gasp for it as she swallows and tries to pull herself back together. Twin pain is the worst.

She glances back at Stefanie to find her watching her with wide, guilty eyes. It's obvious she hadn't realized that hurting one would hurt the other. Josie doesn't even think she knew what she was doing, she realizes as she watches her hands slowly lower, her eyes darting over them as if fearful of herself. 

"You bitch," Lizzie spits out, but her breathing is still laboured, and the comment is barely a bite, carrying far less conviction than it usually would. She's stopped struggling as well, the energy taken out of her. She's actually leaning her head back against Kaleb for support as he keeps a looser hold on her. 

"I'm sorry," Stefanie says quietly, looking at both of them as she shakes her head. "I didn't..."

Josie shakes her own head, straightening back up a little from where she had started to double-over. "It's okay. You didn't mean it. And—" she looks over at Lizzie, "—it wasn't just you."

Lizzie tries to stare her down defiantly, clearly saying that she is not going to do it. Josie doesn't make a move, and even though it's less restricting, Kaleb keeps his arms wrapped around her front, just to be safe. Lizzie groans through her teeth, but it's more of a whine with how little energy she manages to put into it. She looks over at Stefanie, managing to reduce her usual glare by about ten percent.

"I'm sorry," she pushes out, the words not even close to sincere, but she doesn't add any insults to it, so that's something.

Josie keeps her eyes on her and lifts her eyebrows, waiting. She still has a hand held out half behind her, ensuring that Stefanie doesn't move. She seems to have calmed down considerably, regretting her attacking her as she accepts Lizzie's apology with a single nod.

Lizzie huffs out an exhale, sounding half like a sigh. She rolls her eyes but nods back as a sign of her cooperation and an unspoken promise that she's done. The fury burning like well-fed flames in her eyes starts to die down, her anger dissipating as she continues to steady her breathing. 

"Are you good?" Josie asks, just to be sure.

Lizzie nods again, and Josie's far more convinced by it. She almost looks embarrassed by their fight. Josie catches Kaleb's eyes and gives a nod of her own, letting him know it's okay. He looks uncertainly at Lizzie, and there's something to his expression that she can't quite read, but then slowly releases her, removing his arms from around her with caution.

She doesn't try and move away despite regaining her balance, though she does cross her arms. Josie turns halfway to look at Stefanie, silently checking over her. Stefanie presses her lips together but nods again, giving the same answer as she avoids her eyes. For the first time, she actually looks younger than them. Small and wanting to curl into herself but holding herself still, not wanting to back down no matter what.

"Okay," Josie says slowly, turning back. "We have to figure out how we get out of here. The spell wasn't on the page with the one to get here, and I'm guessing we can't just use the same one. Spells usually aren't that easy."

"Where did you find the one to get in?" Kaleb asks. "Maybe the one to get out is in the same place and you just missed it."

Josie shakes her head. "It's not. And, even if it was, it wouldn't help us in here."

At Kaleb's questioning look, Lizzie gives another roll of her eyes but frees one of her arms to gesture as she explains.

"This place is an exact replica of the world on the day it was created, which, unfortunately for us, was twenty-eighteen. The page wouldn't have been there then considering we found it in the school."

"What, the school didn't exist before twenty-eighteen?" Kaleb asks with a shake of his head, his eyebrows drawing together. "I read that this place was founded in nineteen-fourteen."

"It was," Stefanie says, "but it used to be a boarding house, remember? It was only turned into a school in twenty-eighteen, but I'm guessing a few months after whenever we are. Not until after Uncle Stefan died, anyway."

"Alright, so, what's the plan then?" Kaleb asks, throwing his hands out. "Just live here forever? Because, for you three, that's only, like, eighty years. Forever is literally forever for me. I've heard desiccating is painful, and I'd rather not experience it."

"Let's not get so drastic," Lizzie says, glancing back at him with emphasis before turning back. "We can just...look around. See if we can find anything."

She shoots Josie a pointed look. Josie catches on, her eyes growing as the reminder comes crashing back down onto her. In the midst of everything, she had completely forgotten their reason for using the spell in the first place. 

Her eyes dart down, searching despite knowing it's pointless. If the ascendant and the page with the spell didn't make it through with them, there's no chance of the message managing to. 

"What?" Kaleb quickly asks, shifting his eyes between them. "What was that look? There's more, isn't there?"

"Yes," Lizzie admits without missing a beat.

Josie gapes at her, her eyes widening more. Lizzie brushes it off with a half shrug and a sigh.

"Look, the short version of this is that there's someone trapped in here that we wanted to see," she tells them, "that's why we did the spell. Of course, you two coming along for the ride was not in the plan. But clearly, we have more important things right now, and the more questions you ask, the more precious time we waste."

"Uh, by someone trapped in here...?" Stefanie speaks up, stepping forward now as she raises her eyebrows. "Why exactly do they need to be trapped in a magical prison world? And when did you two lose your minds? Just out of general curiosity."

"We don't know," Josie admits, ignoring Lizzie's scoff. "We don't know much about him, or why he's in here. That's why we wanted to come here, to talk to him. But, Lizzie is right. That doesn't really matter anymore, not when we have to find a way out of here as soon as possible."

"Alright, I'm good with the no more questions thing if it means we get home faster," Kaleb says, holding his hands up. 

Stefanie clearly wants to argue. Her mouth opens again, but she catches Kaleb's eyes, and nothing comes out. Her eyes flick to Josie, then Lizzie, her expression wavering. Josie understands why she wants to know more; if it were her who was just magically transported into an unknown world without any warning, she would definitely want to ask a few more questions. 

But she meant it when she said Lizzie was right. They can't afford to stay too long, especially not without an assured exit. Someone could notice they're missing, and that wouldn't be good for anyone. Her heart clenches just at the thought of how worried their dad would be, and their mom when he called to tell her he couldn't find them. She doesn't even know if time passes differently and if they've been away for longer than just a few minutes.

They have to get home. Answers or no answers, as much as she hates the thought of leaving without any. 

"Fine, okay," Stefanie caves a moment later, though still reluctant if the look on her face is anything to on. "Let's just find a way out of here. My dads are going to freak if they realize I snuck out."

Josie breathes out quietly in relief. She nods and looks over at Lizzie and Kaleb as they both agree. She turns around and glances around them. Everything should be exactly the same. It's just a replica after all. Which means the same town, the same buildings and places.

"Maybe we should start at the school," Kaleb suggests before Josie can get the chance. "It should be the easiest place to start, right?"

Lizzie nods in agreement, but checks with Josie to be sure. They both know what lies in wait for them at the school. Maybe he won't be there for some convenient reason. They all start walking, heading out of their little hiding spot and back through town toward the school. She can't help the little part of her that hopes he is there. 

* * *

In the twenty minutes it takes for Alaric to call back, Caroline has slowly spiralled and crashed into a pit of panic-induced worrying and worst-case scenarios. She's already chewed every nail off of both her hands and ignored every single thing Kol has said, whether aimed at her or not. Anything that's said doesn't register in her head anyway unless it's accompanied with a touch to her arm from Davina or it's Bonnie that's trying to get her attention. 

Keep each other calm, she reminds herself, because Bonnie's clearly freaking out as well and she feels incredibly guilty for not being able to be the one to properly comfort her about it right now. But Bonnie seems to understand, and they just communicate for the most part in the form of comforting squeezes to each others' hands.

"Okay, we're here," Freya announces, and pulls the car into park before switching off the engine. She turns in her seat, gesturing her head to the building in front of them. "Let's go."

They all quickly pile out of the car in a rush for the airport. She's really hoping that the next flight doesn't happen to be hours away. She'll vamp-run all the way back home if need be. Compelling a pilot isn't outside of what she'll do right now.

When they get inside, Bonnie and Davina stop her from going over to the desk. They pull her off to the side, hovering close by as Kol and Freya go up instead. Probably for the best, she thinks. Mikaelson's can be very convincing, and it's probably in everyone's best interests that she doesn't have the opportunity to snap at anyone.

It doesn't take long for them to rejoin them, tickets in hand. When Caroline's eyebrows start to furrow in confusion, Kol just shoots her a secretive smile that she understands as compulsion being a handy perk once again. She's happy to accept the ticket from him.

"Ten minutes," Freya tells them as Caroline looks down to check. "Apparently we just made it on time."

"Probably thanks to your driving," Kol says, almost accusing but not quite reaching it. It's pretty clear that he's figured out that now isn't a good time for his usual snarky remarks or attempts to start an argument for the sake of it. 

Caroline startles at the buzzing her pocket. She's quick to pull her phone out, having only put it away for the sake of carrying her bags, which she's really wishing she had left at Freya's home. She's hitting answer as soon as it's in her hand and holding it to her ear.

"Ric, what's going on? Did you find Kaleb? Did you find the girls?" she asks in a rush before he can even breathe.

"No and no," he answers with a worried edge to his voice that pokes at her bubble of hope sharply.

Caroline's shoulder's drop, her chest tightening. She turns away from the rest of them, taking a few absentminded steps.

"But, I did happen to run into MG," he quickly continues. "He was trying to sneak back in. He was at some event that's being held in the middle of town, and apparently, he left with Kaleb _and_ Lizzie."

Caroline stops, her head snapping up. "Kaleb and Lizzie? Together?"

"That's what he said."

She turns back, throwing a glance at Bonnie who's right behind her. The two of them share a worried look. If they left together, that means they could have performed the spell, assuming that Kaleb's blood would still work, which, honestly, Caroline can't even begin to question right now. They have to consider all possibilities.

"Okay, well, Damon and Enzo are out in town searching for Stefanie and the girls," Caroline tells him. "You should go see if you can find them. Maybe they're still there, and Josie might be with them."

"I'm actually arriving right now," he says.

Sure enough, in the background comes the sound of a typical Mystic Falls town event. A minuscule pang of relief hits her. 

"Okay, good," she breathes out hurriedly, "that's really good. You try and find them — we're at the airport right now and we're gonna get a flight, so we'll be there in about two hours, maybe less, I don't know. But, we'll be there soon, I promise, and—"

"I know, Caroline," he cuts her off gently. "I'll see you when you get here."

"Okay, yeah, yeah," she quickly says, nodding to herself. "Please, call me if anything happens, if you find anything at all out."

"I will, Care, I promise. Now, go, get your flight," he tells her. "I think I just spotted Damon."

He hangs up, letting it drop at that. Caroline just stands there for a moment, her phone still to her ear. Her mind's racing far too fast for her to keep up. If Kaleb and Lizzie are really together, and with the ascendant, they could already be in the prison world.

She's trying not to think about it, but it's the worst-case scenario, and it's the one that refuses to budge from the front of her mind. Lizzie and Josie could be in the prison world right this second and there's nothing she can do about it. Kai could escape at any moment. Anything could be happening for all she knows. She swallows, turning back around to face them as she inhales slowly. 

"So, he, uh...Alaric is in town looking for them with Damon and Enzo," she says, directing the words at Bonnie.

"Okay," Bonnie says, starting to nod as she steps towards her. She raises her shoulders in a small shrug. "That's good. They'll find them. Stefanie, Josie, Lizzie, Kaleb. All of them. This will be fine. Right?"

Caroline stares back into Bonnie's too-wide eyes. Her own fear is reflected right back at her, and something inside of her cracks. Broken pieces start crumbling down, the wall she had built up to use as armour against believing the worst finally tearing itself down.

She shakes her head slowly, her eyes stinging. The pieces get caught up and tangled, twisting painfully. "I don't know," she admits quietly with a shake in her voice.

Bonnie just holds her gaze for a moment. Then she's nodding, the action going from slow to too fast in the space of a second. Her eyes are shining, but she presses her lips together tightly, holding back any tears that try and threaten to fall. 

Caroline isn't so good at that. She quickly pulls her close to her, wrapping her arms tightly around her as she buries her face in her shoulder. Bonnie immediately hugs her back, doing the same as Caroline squeezes her eyes shut. 

Her head spins and her entire body feels far too light. Bonnie squeezes her back tightly. Caroline takes comfort in it, in knowing that she's right there with her. She always has been, but she's not sure she would be dealing with everything that's happening right now as well as she is if it weren't for her being right by her side for it.

Bonnie pulls back, carefully unwrapping her arms from around her. She smiles gently, her eyes watery. Caroline returns it as best she can, and neither of them needs to say anything else. 

She lets her arms fall back to her sides and goes to step back. Except her vision starts to distort, black dots dancing in front of her eyes as a searing pain shoots through her head, her headache growing to a splitting migraine in a split second. 

"Caroline!" Bonnie exclaims in panic as she stumbles, and she feels Bonnie reaching out and grabbing onto her arm to keep her steady. 

She stays as still as she can, pressing a hand to her forehead. The pain lingers, only easing to a dull ache. It takes a moment for the dizziness to wear off and for her to be able to carefully blink her eyes back open. She's met with worried looks all around, a hint of confusion slipping through, even from Kol.

"Care, are you okay?" Bonnie asks gently, peering up at her in concern. Her eyes are darting all over her face for signs of her collapsing on the spot. Honestly, Caroline isn't sure that she isn't going to.

"I'm fine," she says without really looking at her, still blinking to let her eyes readjust. "It's just the jetlag and the...you know, hunger. I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday, I guess."

Realization flickers across Bonnie's face, her eyes lighting up with knowing. Caroline just tries for a small smile, and Bonnie nods back, not pressing the subject. The rest of them, however, still seem rather concerned. 

"Maybe you should sit down," Davina suggests, "just until we have to get on the plane."

"Do you want me to quickly see if there's anything in the store over there?" Freya asks, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at the little newsagents in the corner of the room. "Those places usually have some sort of edible food."

Caroline just shakes her head but directs her smile at the two of them in thanks.

"No, seriously, it's fine," she assures them. "But thank you. I think I'll be fine once we're on the plane. It's just the stress and not knowing that's getting to me, that's all."

They seem convinced, albeit still somewhat worried about her passing out in the middle of the airport. But they let the subject drop. Bonnie doesn't quite let go of her arm, but she doesn't mind too much. The promise of stability is comforting.

She attempts to occupy her thoughts with a plan rather the possibilities of everything that could go wrong or already has and won't even know about until she gets home. If they already have a plan for what to do when they get there, then they have more of a chance of things going right. That's always how it works, even in Mystic Falls. She tries to fool herself into actually believing that. 

The plane arrives right on schedule and they board it before anyone else even has a chance to get near the line. They settle into their seats right away, leaving them only a few minutes before they actually take off. Davina and Freya have already settled themselves into one of the rows, and Kol threatens to compel the person who takes the third seat, but they both tell him not to. Resigned, he slips into the row Caroline and Bonnie are occupying. 

Caroline keeps her phone in her hand as Bonnie leans her head against the window, her eyes already closing. She can't bring herself to tear her eyes away from her phone, waiting for the screen to light up. An idea crosses her mind. Surely Lizzie has her phone on her. She practically refuses to go anywhere without it and has a habit of sneaking it with her by tucking it into the waistband of her skirt thinking that she won't catch on. Maybe it's not too late.

She quickly unlocks her phone, forcing herself to swipe past the photo of Lizzie and Josie in Paris. Thankfully, her phone connects to the plane's internet without problem. She pulls up her messages to Lizzie. Her fingers fly across the keypad as she types out a message. She pauses for just a moment to read over it before hitting send.

Her chest doesn't loosen any. Her eyes are still glued to the screen, except now in wait for a response, or a little tick that'll tell her Lizzie's at least seen the message. While she waits, she's vaguely aware of the flight attendant saying something. Then there's movement out of the corner of her eye from the window at Bonnie's side and she guesses they're taking off. 

It does nothing to ease her mind except give her the knowledge that they're seconds close to being home. 

Her thumb tap against the side of her phone as her bottom lip slips between her teeth, pulling at it painfully. She doesn't pay it much attention. She backs out of Lizzie's messages to switch to Alaric's, checking to see if maybe he sent something but a notification just didn't come through. 

When she realizes nothing has changed, she goes to switch back to Lizzie's, her thumb still tapping away. She barely notices the taste of blood in her mouth as she continues to gnaw at her lip. Her phone's starting to lose a good signal the higher they go. 

"Staring at it won't make a difference."

Caroline lifts her head, pausing and turning to her right to look at Kol. He's leaned towards her just a little, his head tilted. He gives her a small smile as he nods his head at the phone, his expression bordering on sympathetic. She can't even bring herself to be surprised anymore.

"You don't know that," she mutters. The response sounds petulant even to her, but she just turns her eyes back down to her phone hopefully, moving to continue what she was doing.

Kol laughs quietly, his eyebrows raising. "No, I suppose I don't."

She isn't expecting her phone to disappear from her sight. Her head snaps up, looking back at Kol with a hard stare this time. She holds her hand out, eyeing her phone now held between his fingers. 

"Give it back," she demands.

"I will," he assures her, holding out his other hand.

Her eyebrows start to draw together, confused. She stares at him in silent question, trying to figure out what he could possibly be up to. Knowing Kol, it could be anything, but she's just not in the mood to be dealing with it.

"But what I do know is that you're driving yourself mad right now," he tells her, his tone taking on a softer edge. "I can't even begin to pretend I understand what you or Bonnie are going through right now, but I know that this amount of worrying isn't good for you. Especially considering it nearly caused you to faint just a few minutes ago."

Caroline gives a tiny sigh. "I'm fine," she says. "See? All good. Now, can I please have my phone back?"

"In a minute," he says, still holding it away from him, though she makes no attempt to grab it.

He leans forward, grabbing at the bag at his feet. She watches him in growing confusion and exasperation, letting her hand drop back into her lap with a roll of her eyes. It takes him a moment to straighten back up in his seat.

He holds the blood bag in his hand out to her, offering it to her. She eyes it in alarm and quickly cranes her neck to make sure no one can see. She has a feeling that blood bags are on the list of things that don't qualify as carry-on luggage. Or they wouldn't be because no one would expect anyone to be stupid enough to bring them on a plane.

"What are you doing?" she hisses, staring at him.

"Caroline, I watched you nearly collapse," he says like it should be obvious as his eyebrows knit together. "You know, I think you've forgotten that I've been a vampire a lot longer than you have. I know what hunger looks like when I see it."

"And you just happen to have a blood bag with you?" she questions in suspicion. "I thought you preferred taking it straight from the vein where you have easy access to murder them right after?"

Kol rolls his eyes, and she'll admit, she feels a bit bad about the comment. It slipped out on instinct.

"Let's just say I'm a changed man," he replies, to her surprise.

He then holds the bag out a little closer to her, nodding once more for her to take it. Something in his expression softens as he does. She glances down at it uncertainly, the worry still clinging to her that someone is going to walk by and see. 

Her gums are aching, though, and her mouth is way too dry. And she supposes that it could be easily explained. With compulsion. She takes the blood bag from him and turns it over carefully, examining the label. She makes a face. 

"B negative?" she says, shooting him a look of disgust. "Why am I not surprised?"

His mouth curves up as he chuckles quietly. "Sorry that we can't all enjoy the same type. Let me guess, your personal favourite is B positive?"

Caroline doesn't answer him, giving him a sideways glance as she makes her self busy with tearing off the little cap on the top of the bag with her teeth. He grins, her silence an answer in itself.

"Of course it is," he says, shaking his head, "I'd expect nothing else."

She rolls her eyes as she spits the cap out into her hand. "It just tastes better, alright? But it doesn't matter."

She turns to look at him, keeping a careful hold on the blood bag. It would not be good if she accidentally spilled it, and she's pretty sure it would be the final straw that's keeping her from having a full-on breakdown right about now.

"Why are you being nice to me?" she asks, unable to help herself as she gives a slight shake of her own head. "I get that you're helping me, and I appreciate it. More than I can even begin to explain. But you don't have to be _this_ nice. This is _friendly_ nice, not just polite, I-promise-I'm-not-going-to-try-and-kill-you-while-we're-working-together nice."

"Wanting to make sure you don't start desiccating before we land in Mystic Falls seems pretty reasonable if I'm supposed to be helping you, to be fair," Kol points out. 

She just stares at him, unable to figure out if he's being sincere. It's always been pretty hard to read him, but now especially. Something really has changed about him, and she can't figure it out, but it's making it harder for her to tell when she's meant to believe him. He sighs, seeming to sense her confusion as she doesn't make a move to drink the blood. 

"Look, I could tell you were practically starving from hunger, alright?" he says, his voice far gentler than she's ever heard it in the past. "It's not a nice feeling. So, I just thought you could use something to satiate it until we land."

Caroline will admit that he's right. It's been in the back of her mind and her throat all day since yesterday. It was easy to ignore for the first few hours, but it's only gotten more noticeable to the point where it's constantly on her mind. It's just throwing her that he's the one offering to help her out. 

She continues to eye him for a moment longer, but it's no longer out of distrust. He seems sincere enough, and she really is starving. She finally lifts the bag to her mouth, her lips wrapping around the little tube, and she takes a careful sip. 

The second the blood hits her tongue, the ache in her limbs starts to ease away. Her eyes close and she takes a proper drink, letting the blood cool the burning of her insides as the relentless hunger ebbs away at last. 

"See?" Kol says, almost smug but not quite. "You can't deny hunger when you're a vampire. I thought you would have learned that by now. It's been, what? Nineteen years? Not that you've aged a day past seventeen, but you get the point."

Caroline carefully pulls off of the bag, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth as she swallows the blood down. 

"I've just been forgetting a lot more lately," she says with a small shrug, trying to dismiss it. "It's easy to do when you're always travelling and tracking down failed leads."

"Does it also have anything to do with the fact that both of your daughters are witches and their father is a human who has little to no trust for vampires in general?" Kol questions, his eyebrows lifting slightly. "Because, I have to say, I'd get it. It would be pretty hard to be a vampire around them."

Caroline shakes her head right away, but she hesitates to answer. Kol just continues looking at her with that expression on his face, not quite prying, and she sinks into her seat.

"A little bit," she admits, and he gives her a small, understanding smile. "But it's not their fault. And I'm not ashamed of being a vampire, obviously. I own a school with at least twenty of them. It's just..."

She shakes her head again, staring at the back of the seat in front of her. She can hear Davina and Freya's quiet breathing, both fast asleep already, along with Bonnie. The rest of the sentence sits on the tip of her tongue, and she doesn't want to say it. Thinking it is bad enough, and it's so stupid, she knows that. But she can't help it.

"Alaric always used to make it clear how he didn't want the girls to be raised around vampires," she explains in a small voice, her stomach tightening as she does. "He's obviously gotten over it through the years considering the school. But...no matter what I do, it always seems like he doesn't _trust _me. And it's not a big secret that most witches are usually pretty put-off by our kind."

"But they're not most witches," Kol points out, his head dipping to the side. "They're your daughters. Who are literally surrounded by vampires on a daily basis by the sounds of it. I don't think they will have the same prejudice that a lot of witches are raised with. Besides, you're their mother."

Caroline can't help but smile a little. He's right, surprisingly. Lizzie and Josie have never had a problem with vampires or knowing she was one, but she's always made a point of not feeding around them. Deep down, a part of what Alaric said has rubbed off on her over the years, as much as she wishes it hadn't.

"As for that father of theirs," Kol continues as she takes another tentative sip of the blood bag. "You cannot let what he thinks or used to think affect you. You are a vampire, whether he likes it not, and you shouldn't be starving yourself in some effort to deny that you are to make him happy."

"He would never make me do something like that," Caroline says, shaking her head. "He's never even brought it up, at least not recently. It's just...it's the way he looks at me, I guess. I know he's never liked vampires, and I get that. I absolutely get that after everything. I just..." She breathes out, her shoulders dropping. "I just wish that when he looked at me, he wasn't reminded of every bad thing that vampires have done. Or everything that he's lost."

Kol is quiet for a good few seconds. She drops her eyes to her lap, not even drinking the blood bag now, but merely playing around with it. She knows that Alaric doesn't mean to make her feel the way he does, and she has never held it against him in any way, because she understands. But it still makes her feel guilty somehow. Like she's strapped back in that chair in the middle of the history classroom with vervain burning her mouth and pencils stuck in her hands. As if she should feel like a monster just for existing. 

She closes her eyes, trying to block the memory back out. That wasn't Alaric. It was Esther, and the that stupid Gilbert ring. Knowing that, though, somehow doesn't make the pain any less real, even after all the years that have passed. It's such a stupid little thing to cling onto after everything that they have gone through. 

"Perhaps you should talk to him about that," Kol suggests at last, his voice kind and understanding as she opens her eyes to look at him. He's a little blurry, but with a blink, he's mostly back to normal. "But no matter what, you can't continue like this. Letting his views on people like us, no matter what they may now be, force you to change in ways that, if we're both honest, we're just simply not capable of."

He holds her gaze, and she swallows. She nods in agreement, ducking her head. She has no idea when it started to bother her so much; after one of their calls, she thinks, when they were both frustrated and he threw some comment about her being dangerous at her. He didn't mean it. She knows that, and she did at the time, but it still got to her. It's finding a way to get past it now that she has to focus on. After everything else.

"Though, honestly, maybe don't take my advice on that part since I've never entirely liked him," Kol adds, his tone lighter, trying to bring the conversation back around. "Especially not after the whole him being turned into an Original vampire by my mother and him trying to kill my entire family thing. I'm almost regretful that I missed that whole debacle. It would have been quite funny to see the vampire-hater as a vampire."

Caroline nearly chokes on the sip of blood she had been about to take as she laughs. She quickly pulls the blood bag away, covering her mouth once more as she swallows it down, her shoulders shaking. She grins as she pulls her hand away.

"Oh, of course you find that amusing," he says sarcastically, but the corners of his mouth twitch.

"Sorry," she says, but she can't get her grin to leave her face. It's easier to remember when Alaric was a vampire when he was trying to kill Klaus rather than that specific memory. 

Kol peers at her for a moment, a thoughtful, considering look on his face as she holds his gaze and raises her eyebrows an inch or two. He then rolls his eyes and holds her phone back out to her. 

"You seem far more alive now, ironically enough," he says in explanation.

She presses her lips together to keep her smile from growing. She takes her phone back from it and glances down at the screen. Nothing. No notifications or messages or missed calls. She sets it facing down in her lap without a second thought. Kol raises his eyebrows, but he doesn't say anything. She just hands him the now half-full blood bag back. 

"Gotta make sure you don't collapse either," she says with a shrug. 

His eyes narrow at her as if she's suddenly the one acting suspicious and unlike herself. The corners of his lips twitch a little further and he nods at her in thanks before lifting the bag to his mouth and taking a drink. 

"And...thank you," she adds quietly, keeping her eyes on him as he looks at her. "I really appreciate all of this. You agreeing to help, and the blood, and even you and Davina coming all the way out here. And your help with Freya. Seriously, I can't thank you enough for any of this."

He swallows before giving a halfhearted shrug of his shoulders. "Don't worry about it," he tells her sincerely, dismissing it. "We still have to actually do the spell first before you really have any reason to thank us."

"But still," Caroline insists. "Thank you, Kol. Really. It means a lot that you're helping me."

It must be the way that she says it that has him understanding exactly what she's thinking. It flickers in his eyes, and she knows that he's thinking it, too. It means a lot after everything they've been through. That it wouldn't just mean a lot to her.

A sad understanding passes between them, and Caroline can't help but be glad he's there. Never in her life did she think that she would be thankful for Kol Mikaelson, but apparently anything is possible.

They let it drop at that, neither of them wanting to speak next. Kol finishes off the blood bag, stashing the evidence back in his bag. Caroline checks her phone one last time before setting it in her lap. She glances at Bonnie, in the seat to her left, making sure she's still dozing off with her head against the window. Davina and Freya are still quiet from the seats in front of them. 

She leans her head back against the seat, staring up at the ceiling as she prepares herself for what's going to come in the next hour and a half. She goes over the plan in her head. It's all going to be over soon.

Providing, of course, that everything works out exactly as it's supposed to. Which includes everything being perfectly fine and does not involve a prison world being entered or another, far less friendly, old enemy being let loose. Again.

* * *

Alaric wasn't lying to Caroline when he hung up. He has spotted Damon, standing across the square, evidently oblivious to his presence. His head's turning left to right, craning slightly as his eyes dart all over the place and his fingers tap against his arm. A nervous tic, and one that he wasn't even aware that Damon has. He guesses it's a human thing of his. 

It's just that he hesitates to actually go over to him. He didn't so much as ask for Damon's help with moving things out of his office like he told Josie so much as Damon showed up and insisted on helping after hearing the news of his departure from Bonnie. A persistent Damon isn't one that he can really say no to, especially not when it would involve saying more than a couple of words to him. Something that they haven't done in a long while.

Unfortunately for him, he stares a second too long as Damon's eyes latch onto his. His face lights up, and the tapping stops. He's walking over to him right away. Alaric forces himself not to groan. He clenches his teeth but takes a few steps forward of his own, his phone still in his hand. 

Right now, working together is the only option. Besides, things have changed over the years. Neither of them are who they used to be, and that's a good thing. Maybe they'll have better luck at actually finding the kids.

"Ric, hey," Damon greets the second he's in front of him, his words already flying out. "Bonnie told me to expect you. Have you seen the twins yet?"

"No," he answers, his eyes darting off to the side as if they'll just magically pop up. He turns back to him as disappointment flickers across Damon's face. "What about you? Have you seen Stefanie?"

"Well, her phone is for some reason off, and Enzo has done at least three speed-searches of the entire town," Damon says. "Still no sign of her. I'm guessing it's not much of a stretch to assume they're together at this point."

"Considering Lizzie and Kaleb came to this thing together, I'd have to agree with you."

Damon's jaw tightens. A noise of frustration escapes from the back of his throat as he turns his head away from him, obviously having the same thought as him. 

"Okay, well, what do we do then?" he asks. "Huh? I mean, if they have the ascendant and the spell, then there's a good chance they're already in the prison world right now, and without knowing where they used it and where the ascendant will have been left, we don't exactly have a way to follow them and drag them back out. Unless you have another ascendant stashed away somewhere in that school of yours, which would be incredibly useful right about now."

He pauses to stare at him with raised eyebrows, his hands held out as if waiting for an answer. Alaric just glances away, and Damon gives a single nod, dropping his hands.

"That's what I thought. So, any ideas? You are — I mean, were — the headmaster of a school full to the brim with all things supernatural, so...have you by chance heard of some other way we can get them out of there without an ascendant, a Bennett, or even the actual spell required? If not, what are we going to do?"

"I—I don't know, Damon," Alaric snaps, his own frustration already building to a boiling point.

He sighs, closing his eyes. It's starting to get to him; all of it at the same time, the worrying, the fear of what could be happening at that very moment. Not even knowing if the girls are okay. It's all too much, and combining that with his years-long frustration with Damon isn't making it much better. 

"Look," he starts again, lowering his voice, "maybe they're not even in the prison world. Just because they have the ascendant and probably the spell as well, doesn't mean that they've used it yet. We might still have time to find them."

"Ric, they're nowhere to be found," Damon says with a shake of his head. "That doesn't exactly point to good things. In fact, it quite literally points to them not being here, ergo, in an entirely different world. Say, the prisony kind that was specifically made to trap homicidal lunatics whose only joy in life is tormenting ours."

"We don't know that," Alaric insists slowly for emphasis. 

Damon casts his eyes up to the sky in exasperation. 

"We just have to find them," Alaric says. "Alright? I brought MG back with me since he was the last person to see them, so maybe he can remember where they were last, and find them. We should just keep look―"

He falters as Enzo walks up next to Damon with no warning, practically appearing out of thin air. It's not a stretch to assume he was using his abilities to his advantage. He has a habit of doing that, Alaric thinks, another little muscle tightening in his jaw.

"I still can't find Stef anywhere," Enzo tells Damon, giving no inclination that he's even noticed Alaric's presence. "I compelled one of her friends — Cheryl, you know, the cheerleader? She was a little on the tipsy side and was speaking gibberish so I compelled her to tell me if she's seen Stefanie at all tonight. She's sobering up now, thankfully, and I made sure her friends are there to take her home."

Alaric scoffs under his breath, shaking his head to himself. Neither of them seems to notice.

"And?" Damon prompts, turning towards him, his eyebrows immediately raising. "Has she seen her?"

"About half an hour ago. Apparently, they were talking, then she left when Stefanie's '_weird, arrogant cousin_' came over."

Damon's eyebrows furrow. "Weird, arrogant cousin?"

"Kaleb," Alaric supplies with a tug of annoyance in his chest as they both turn their eyes on him at last. "She was probably talking about Kaleb. The Mystic Falls High students don't exactly paint mine in a great light."

"Alaric," Enzo says carefully, his eyes flicking up and down him. The politeness is forced, but Alaric can't bring himself to care when nothing has changed since the day they met except to get worse.

"Well, I think that confirms it then," Damon says, purposefully ignoring their near staring contest. He looks at Alaric. "Kaleb was with Stefanie, and Kaleb left with Lizzie, so, I think it's safe to assume that the three of them are together. The only one missing from this little equation is your other not-so-small munchkin."

"Where was Josie last seen?" Enzo asks him.

Alaric struggles to make himself answer him. It'll be admitting that he doesn't know where his daughter was last. It didn't seem so bad when he was able to assume that she was with Lizzie, but now that it's Enzo who's questioning him, he wishes he had a different answer. At Damon's slight raise of his eyebrows, prompting him to answer, he sighs and shakes his head.

"I have no idea," he admits. "MG said she wasn't with them when they snuck out, so, for all I know, she's still at the school. Just...hidden really well."

"Wait, they snuck out?" Enzo asks. "And you had to get one of them to tell you where they were?"

"Yes," Alaric says through his teeth, "because I am trying to protect these kids, and letting them wander into town on a full moon isn't exactly my idea of the right way to do that. These stupid events aren't worth risking their lives."

"Let's maybe not get into the right way to protect kids right now, yeah?" Damon says pointedly, but it's clear it's a not a jab at him, merely a silent plead for him to listen. "That particular subject won't make any of us look good."

Of course he knows what happened. Why wouldn't Bonnie tell him everything instead of just simply leaving it at the fact that he's no longer headmaster? And why wouldn't Caroline just have to tell her everything in the first place? Apparently not keeping secrets from each other is something that they've all finally worked out over the years. How wonderful for him.

"It's not like you did such a great job at keeping an eye on Stefanie like Bonnie told you to," he can't help but quip back at Enzo, almost ready to let it drop. He's been pulled taut for weeks now since the vote was made final, and Enzo provoking him is definitely enough to make him snap. 

Enzo's eyebrows shoot up and Damon groans quietly, turning halfway away from them as he seems to already be predicting the outcome of this. Alaric supposes that maybe now really isn't the time. Or maybe it's exactly the time. 

"I'm sorry, was that judgement I heard?" Enzo asks, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Rather rich coming from you, don't you think? Considering you trusted your own children — and Caroline, for that matter, as well as least a hundred or so more kids — so little that you put them all in danger."

"Oh boy," Damon mutters, his eyes shifting between the two of them. He's started tapping the tips of his nails on one hand together, clearly uncertain as to if he should be intervening.

"Why are you even here?" Alaric asks, narrowing his eyes and stepping forward.

Enzo mirrors the action, his mouth twitching and his jaw visibly tightening. 

"Last time I checked, you're just the guy who came back from the dead and pushed your way into a perfectly happy family," Alaric says, not entirely thinking it through before the words slip. "Everyone was fine, especially Damon and Bonnie, and then along came you. Kaleb was fine. But no, you just had to be resurrected, because you couldn't stand that they were happy without you, could you?"

"Ric," Damon says, his voice sharp and shocked. 

Something flickers in Enzo's eyes. His hard expression slips, taken aback as he blinks. He falters as Alaric's words seem to hit harder than maybe he had intended them to. Alaric knows he should stop. But there's still a trace of bourbon in his system, just enough to hold onto his anger and let it direct itself at Enzo. 

"Why do you even care about what's going on?" he adds, shaking his head at him. "You've never cared about anyone other than yourself. You proved that time and time again. Especially recently. And — you're not even a part of this. You're not the one with a family that could get hurt."

"That's enough," Damon snaps, stepping forward. His eyebrows are furrowed in confusion as he looks at him as if trying to figure something out, but it's not enough to disguise the anger flaring across his face. "Enzo isn't the problem here. Finding the kids is, remember? And Kai? The real villain of this story?"

"It's fine, Damon," Enzo tells him gently, staring blankly at Alaric. 

Shaking his head, he steps back, much to Alaric's surprise. He visibly swallows and presses his lips together before turning his eyes on Damon. The crack in his expression and the subtle strain in his voice gives him away. 

"You need to find Stefanie, and he needs to find his girls," he says softly. "I'm not going to cause any unnecessary problems, and it seems that my being here is doing exactly that. If it means you'll find her faster and ensure she's safe, then I'll step back. I can wait at home, see if she comes back. Or I'll check out her usual hangouts again. Just make sure you find her. Please."

Alaric blinks, thrown. That's not the response he was expecting, especially not from Enzo. Aggressive taunting and throwing an even harsher remark back at him; that's typical Enzo behaviour. At least... it used to be. 

"Hold on, no," Damon quickly says, his eyebrows furrowing further as he takes hold of Enzo's arm. He turns to look at Alaric, shifting his attention between them as he waves a hand. "This is ridiculous. Look, we have to find our kids, alright? So—"

He points a finger at Alaric, shooting him an unfamiliar warning look before he even continues his sentence.

"—I don't care if you have a problem with Enzo being here for whatever weird reason you have going on in that head of yours," he tells him, "you are going to suck it up for the sake of your daughters. And for Stefanie, and Caroline, and Bonnie. Alright? Because they're counting on us to make sure that bastard doesn't escape from that place, and the only way to do that is if we're working together."

He's right. Their priority right now should be finding the girls and making sure that Kai doesn't get a way out of the prison world. Alaric glances at Enzo and pushes down the still seething frustration sitting in his chest. He'll admit to feeling a bit bad about snapping, but not enough to acknowledge it. 

"Alright, good," Damon says, then swiftly turns back to face Enzo, shooting him a similar exasperated look. "And you aren't going anywhere. Except maybe on another speed-search around town since I no longer have the ability to do that. But you are not to go home without me, alright?"

Enzo throws an uncertain glance at Alaric. "I don't know, Damon. Maybe waiting at home is a better idea. She might have left her phone since she's not picking up, so she mig—"

"Uh-uh, no, no way," Damon cuts him off, shaking his head. "You are not using an excuse on me. I need you right here, helping me look for Stefanie — and, apparently, for Kaleb the runaway vampire. Okay?" Something in his expression shifts a little. "I need you here, with me. Stefanie and Bonnie need you."

That seems to do the trick. Enzo caves, nodding and agreeing to stay.

Alaric just sighs, and says, "alright, fine. Let's just—"

He's cut off by a rush of air on his left. His jaw clenches harder, and he bites his tongue, but turns. He's met with a wide-eyed and frantic, almost breathless, MG. 

"I couldn't find them, I'm sorry, Dr S," he says before Alaric can get the question out. "But, Professor Williams just called — apparently you weren't answering your phone, so he tried the school's phone since he saw me leave with you and knew you or I would probably have it — and I should get to the point."

Alaric nods in agreement while Damon and Enzo exchange a confused look.

"Apparently there's someone up at the school asking for you," MG explains with a shake of his head. His eyebrows furrows, one arching up. "She said her name was Valerie. She wouldn't tell him anything and is refusing to talk to anyone other than you, but it sounded pretty serious."

Alaric goes still at the name, his eyebrows shooting up in alarm.

"Did you say Valerie?" he asks, and MG nods in confused confirmation. 

"No freakin' way," Damon mutters, his eyes wide. "Not possible."

"Valerie?" Enzo breathes in disbelief. "Oh, perfect. Of course she decides to stop by for a little visit tonight of all nights. How convenient."

"I don't think it's convenience that brought her here," Alaric says. He ignores both Enzo's and Damon's questioning stares, turning back to MG. "I need to go back up to the school. Can you stay here and keep looking for them?"

MG nods without hesitation. "Yeah, of course."

Alaric nods back once in thanks before throwing Damon and Enzo one last look. "Call or get MG to call me if anything changes," he says to them, lingering long enough to wait for their answers.

"Uh, no offence to that plan or anything, but if you think I'm not coming with you to see Valerie, then it really has been too long since we were friends," Damon says. 

Alaric starts to protest, but Damon quickly holds up a hand.

"Clearly, neither your twins nor Stefanie are here. Enzo would have found them by now, trust me, he's been all over this town more times than I have in my entire life at this point." 

Enzo gives a small gesture of agreement, and Alaric is aware that he's probably right. Mystic Falls really isn't that big, as much as he hopes that they're still somewhere inside its borders. In the same world, even.

"Alright?" Damon asks, raising his eyebrows at him. "So, let's go and see what dear old Valerie wants."

It'll take Alaric more time to argue with him than it will to give into him. That's why he just throws his hands up and quickly nods, only pausing to shoot MG another look.

"Call me or the school, okay?"

He then turns, and the three of them take off back towards the school. He slips his phone out of his pocket on the way. Sure enough, three missed calls from Dorian. He must have put it on silent by accident after he hung up on Caroline.

Cursing himself, he hurries up to get back to the school before Valerie decides to take off like she did thirteen years ago. He's really hoping he's right about this. It's the only good explanation for her choosing now to return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How well do you think the four of them being in the prison world can end? And, I know that the conversation between Caroline and Kol may seem unnecessary, but I had to put it in there. Caroline is stressed as all hell, and Kol's just Kol. But Valerie has finally turned up! A confrontation between her, Alaric, Damon, and Enzo can really only end in good things, right? Please, tell me all of your thoughts and theories, I'm excited to see what you all think about what's happening! ❤


	16. Don't you people watch horror movies?

It shouldn't surprise Lizzie that it takes the same amount of time to get to the school from town in the prison world as it does in the real world, and yet, she still can't help but be surprised when she spends twenty minutes listening to Stefanie ask them about the Gemini Coven and the man trapped somewhere with them. 

No matter how many vague answers she throws back at her, Stefanie somehow manages to conjure up another question before the words have even left her mouth. She ends up walking faster than she normally would just to stay ahead of her and therefore out of question range. She would feel bad about leaving Josie with her, but considering she keeps actually trying to answer her questions, she's not feeling too guilty.

When they reach the school at last, Lizzie marches straight up the driveway. It's only when she reaches the door, about to turn the handle, that she hesitates. Her reason for being so reluctant to do this in the first place finally returns along with the realization that she could be about to walk right into him. Malachai. Her biological uncle. 

It would be different now. He'll actually be able to see them and hear them. That's a hell of a lot more terrifying to think about than just being able to spy on him without him even knowing they're there. 

Josie, Stefanie, and Kaleb are fast approaching behind her, though, and she wants to get out as soon as possible. She forces herself to remain cool and collected, not letting anything slip through. She turns the handle and pushes the door open, quickly stepping inside. 

Her stomach drops right away. The second she realizes he's not standing there, waiting to greet them at the threshold, she lets out a quiet exhale of relief. If they manage to avoid running into him the entire time that they're there — which she's hoping is going to be a very short amount — then she'll be perfectly fine with that. 

Josie closes the door as Stefanie and Kaleb walk in, the three of them joining Lizzie as she glances around the hallway. Kaleb's already eyeing the unfamiliar paintings with an arched eyebrow, while Stefanie's raise, staring around at it all with something close to awe.

"This place really is big, huh," she says, more to himself. "I barely remember what it looks like on the inside."

"It's even bigger now in our world," Josie tells her with a smile. "Our mom and dad did a few renovations to make it more suitable as a school rather than a boarding house. There have even been a couple more since the last Christmas party you came to."

"Yeah, and apparently they have better taste in decorations than the Salvatores." Kaleb turns to look at Stefanie, giving a halfhearted shrug. "No offence to your old man or anything, but they are hideous," he says, pointing at the paintings hanging on the faraway wall of the lounge. "And I know art."

Stefanie rolls her eyes but doesn't seem to take offence. Lizzie has to silently agree with him. It's one of the things she's decided that she's glad her mom and dad decided to change. The few paintings they kept were pushing it enough, though some of them admittedly pretty to look at.

"Okay, so, where should we start looking?" she asks, turning back to the group, placing her hands on her hips. "The page we found back in our world was in Emma's classroom in one of her drawers, but here, she doesn't even have a class, so...?"

"We could split up?" Stefanie suggests, glancing between them.

Lizzie scoffs, already in the process of rolling her eyes and opening her mouth to point out that that's a horrible idea. Her heart jumps a beat just at the thought of searching alone, not knowing if the next corner she takes is about to lead her face-to-face with Malachai. On her own.

"That's a good idea," Josie says before Lizzie can get one word out. "We'll be able to search the entire building faster if two of us take one wing, and the other two take the other. That way, we can work our way through and meet back up in the middle."

Stefanie's face brightens at Josie agreeing with her. 

"Uh, no," Lizzie quickly says, her eyes widening a tiny bit. She tries to tone down the alarm in her voice when they all shoot her an odd look. "I mean...don't you people watch horror movies? This is the exact opposite of what we should do unless we want to walk right into a death trap. Literally. Anything could happen in this place for all we know."

"It's a prison world, Lizzie," Josie says, "not the setting of an episode of Scooby-Doo. I think we'll be fine."

"I was thinking more like an episode of Supernatural, you know, where splitting up leads to near-death and the realization that it's a terrible idea to try and search places alone?" Lizzie emphasizes, her heart skipping too many beats. "Or Final Destination, where everyone just dies?"

Kaleb furrows his eyebrows at her, a curious glint in his eyes, but she brushes him off. Josie rolls her eyes as Stefanie doesn't even bother to hide her snickering, a smirk curving her mouth up.

"We'll be fine, I promise," Josie tries to reassure her, stepping forward. She waves a hand around them. "We're clearly the only ones here right now. Okay? So, let's just...decide who goes with who and then split up so that we can get out of here."

"Well, I'm not going with her," Stefanie says right away, motioning her head toward Lizzie. 

Lizzie pulls a face, shooting her a sarcastic smile. She can't say she's disappointed by that in the slightest. If left alone with her for more than five minutes, Lizzie can't promise that she won't try and rip her head off again. 

"I'm probably gonna regret this," Kaleb sighs, sounding reluctant. He nods his head at Lizzie. "I think it makes sense if me and Lizzie team up and the two of you go together."

Lizzie can't help but be taken aback, and evidently, neither can Josie or Stefanie. Her head tilts a little, her mind trying to put pieces together that don't even exist as far as she's aware. His sudden kindness towards her is throwing her all over again, and she stares at him with narrowed eyes, wanting to be able to figure out. At their collective confused looks, he explains himself.

"That way, if something does go wrong, then neither of you have to rely on any magic in the walls or whatever to be able to do magic. Both of you will have something to siphon straight from. And, I think it's pretty clear that putting the two of you—" he glances pointedly at Lizzie and Stefanie, "—together would only end in disaster, so."

Lizzie and Stefanie share a look, their equal loathing passing between them and proving Kaleb's point. It certainly does make more sense to keep them on opposite ends of the building. 

"That sounds smart," Josie agrees with him, nodding. "Let's do it. Stefanie and I will take the east wing to start with."

"West for us it is then," Lizzie says to Kaleb, far less enthusiastic than Josie.

He gives a nod of agreement and steps towards her as Josie moves back over to Stefanie. None of them says anything as they linger for just a moment, the uncertainty hanging in the air as they look at each other.

Then they all move at once, Josie guiding Stefanie and practically giving her a tour as they head off down one hallway. Lizzie and Kaleb take the opposite one in silence. They manage to make it all the way up the stairs and into the start of the west wing, working their way through the rooms. 

Lizzie's crouched down to check a rickety floorboard up the back of what appears to be one of many guest rooms. Even so, the bed is bigger than any of the ones back at real-world version of the school. And when she runs her hands over the sheets, she discovers they are indeed made of silk as she expected upon seeing them. 

"Of course they took out the one good thing about this place when they renovated it," she complains, eyeing the purple sheets and the large oak headboard with envy. "I bet that thing's never even been slept in."

Kaleb throws a glance at the bed from the other side of the room, pausing in the middle of examining the fireplace in the corner. At least they didn't attempt to take those out as well. Her fireplace is one of her favourite parts of her room. Although, she distinctly remembers her mom saying something about the room being custom made for her and Josie by Stefan. 

"I don't know," Kaleb says, "a lot of people stayed in this place. And a lot of people died in it."

Lizzie's nose wrinkles. "How lovely. Just ruin the gorgeous silk sheets for me why don't you."

"Hey, I'm just stating the facts," he says, shaking his head as he turns back to the fireplace. "It was fine for a good few decades, but did you ever look into how many people actually died in this place before it was turned into a school? At least a hundred. No idea how the place never went out of business."

"They were vampires, duh," Lizzie says and focuses her own attention back on the floorboard. She carefully pries at one end of it, feeling it loosen slightly beneath her fingers. "They probably had the whole town compelled." 

Kaleb makes a noise as he runs his hand over the brickwork on the inside. She glances over at him in confusion as she pulls the floorboard free. 

"At least they had a choice in if they compelled people," he says, sounding bitter.

"Ironic that you're complaining about not being able to choose to take away a person's free will and ability to make their own decisions," Lizzie points out, but the corners of her mouth twitch up a little as she says it. 

Kaleb rolls his eyes, but even from across the room, she catches sight of his smile. He moves his hand further up into the fireplaces as the other presses against the bricks on the outside. 

"When you put it like that, it doesn't sound so great," he agrees. "But that's not the point. Vampires usually don't have to worry about if they're gonna be able to compel someone who accidentally found out what they are and are planning on screaming bloody murder through the entire town. They can just do it, no problem."

Lizzie's smile slips a little. She turns her eyes back down on the floorboard, now free from the rest. Nothing. Not that she was really expecting much else. Hiding a spell to get out of a prison world in a loose floorboard was a bit of a stretch. She slips it back into place, pressing down until it gives a quiet crack in response, letting her know it's back where it had been.

"Is that why you voted my dad out?" she asks. 

The room goes quiet. She lifts her head, looking over at him. He's paused in place, his back still turned to her and his face half-hidden. Then, he starts moving again, his actions slow as he carefully shifts his attention to the bottom of the fireplace.

"One of them," he says truthfully. 

Lizzie nods slowly, sucking in a breath. She pushes herself back up onto her feet with a hand on her knee and looks around the room for anything else that catches her attention. 

"What were the others?" she asks.

She tilts her head, her eyes latching onto yet another decorative painting hanging on the wall across from her, facing the bed right down the middle. It seems new, at least for the year they're in and compare to every other painting she's seen so far.

"Lizzie, I really don't think this is a good idea," Kaleb says, turning to look at her properly now. "I offered to come with you because it meant you and Stefanie wouldn't rip each other's heads off, but it's not exactly gonna help if we start going at each other either."

"I'm not trying to start a fight with you," she tells him, raising her shoulders in a shrug. "I mean, I get it."

Kaleb visibly falters. His forehead creases, his eyebrows drawing together. "You do?"

"Yeah," she says, "I do. I get why you voted him out. And you had every right to, as much as I wish that he hadn't lost his job. Mainly because it now means he's back to drinking on a daily basis. But I genuinely want to know your reasons. Not to pick them apart or argue with you or anything like that. I just want to listen."

Kaleb stares at her for a moment — after he's quickly gotten over his surprise at the mention of her dad drinking, which apparently doesn't seem to be quite as common knowledge as she thought. Suspicion flickers across his face, his eyes narrowing just a touch. 

But when she doesn't back down and simply holds his stare, pushing her eyebrows a little further up, it dissolves. He still seems uncertain and wary about her intentions of getting him to talk, but he gives in. 

"It's not just the compulsion thing. Being able to do that is a part of what makes us vampires," he explains while shaking his head. "But because of that bunny diet your dad's trying to sell us as the real stuff, we aren't even close to being at full strength. I can barely use my powers, and when I needed to a few months back when we were stuck in that quarantine place with the mummy thing — I nearly collapsed just from compelling a couple of people because of how weak I was."

She nods slowly, taking his words in as she shifts her eyes back to the painting. She does remember how he had to keep himself upright by leaning against a wall for a good minute or so in the middle of it all. 

And she can't say that she hasn't picked up on how slow he and MG can be when moving from one room to the other using their speed. One of the wolves even beat them at one point. That wasn't a good day for anyone, and honestly, is probably one of the other reasons that there's still tension between the two factions aside from the obvious. 

"I just wish that if they were going to insist on feeding us that stuff, that they'd at least be honest with us about what it is," he adds, turning back to the fireplace. "They keep trying to pass it off as human blood, but anyone who's tasted it before knows the difference. Apparently, no one sees a problem with lying to us."

"I've tried not to take it personally over the years," Lizzie says, running her fingers over the edge of the bronze frame. 

"What do you mean?" Kaleb asks. 

"What? You think the vampires are the only ones being lied to?" She gives a slight scoff, her mouth stretching humourlessly. "The witches are constantly told that we're not allowed to learn offensive magic to protect us, because we could hurt each other or something could go wrong. No, we're only allowed to know how to do nice and easy locator spells and make daylight rings for all of the vampires."

She pauses, turning to look at him over her shoulder. He's glancing down at his own ring, a tiny lapis lazuli stone embedded in the middle of the gold setting.

"Yeah, my dad had me whip that up for you last minute last year when he announced that you were going to be enrolling," she tells him as he looks up at her in surprise. "He would probably have rather asked Jo, but she was out on a date in town with Satan. Supervised by Dorian, of course."

Kaleb's mouth curves, giving a small noise of amusement at the nickname that he's probably heard her use for Penelope more than her actual name in the last year. His eyes flick back down to his ring.

"Guess I should thank you for this then," he says, nodding his head at it. "No one told me before who made it, so I just assumed it was probably from someone in my family. Then again, I think they were in too much shock after it happened to think about a ring before your dad was bringing me into the school."

"Yeah, I have sort of been wondering about that." She drops her hands form the painting, turning to face him properly. "You're a Bennett. Right?"

He nods, confirming it, and Lizzie still needs a moment to wrap her head around that.

"Which means you were also a witch," she muses, not looking for an answer this time, already putting the pieces together for herself. "Then...if I'm not totally putting my foot in it by asking...what happened? It's just, you know, we've never really talked before, and I've never really heard anything from anyone, surprisingly..."

She's already regretting asking, knowing she's probably just ruined whatever moment they were having. It's a bad habit, and half the time, she isn't even aware that she's doing it. She tried to approach with caution this time, but a part of her is already preparing herself to spend the next however long it's going to take to get back to Josie and Stefanie searching in silence. 

He doesn't seem upset though. He actually smiles at her, startling her just a little. It's not exactly the response she expects when asking someone how they died, and she's asked a few before. It didn't end so well. 

"You know, besides the rest of the vamps, obviously, you're the first person to ask that," he tells her. 

Her eyebrows raise a little in surprise, finding that hard to believe. He's been with them for at least a year, she's sure that he's had to have made friends with some of the witches and even the wolves. Someone outside of his own kind would have asked, surely.

"Well, apart from Landon," he adds with a half roll of his eyes, "but I don't think he meant to. He was just staring at me and MG and blurted out, 'so, you're dead...'"

Lizzie laughs, unable to stop herself at both the thought of that and Kaleb's impression of Landon. She quickly covers her mouth with her hand, but Kaleb's chuckling as well, waving a hand at her as if she's just proven some point.

"Seriously?" she breathes through her fingers, trying to bite back the rest of her laughter and failing considerably as her voice shakes. "He actually said that?"

"He's Landon," Kaleb deadpans. 

Lizzie nods, dropping her hand back to her side. "Of course he said that. Let me guess: he totally freaked out afterwards?"

"Kid was a mess," Kaleb confirms. 

They both laugh again. The fear and worry she had felt right before they walked into the house eases a little, the knot in her chest loosening just a touch. It feels nice to laugh with someone, even Kaleb, who she never thought she would be having a civil conversation with if it didn't revolve around beating Mystic Falls High at football or how they hate having to clean graffiti off of store windows. Or whatever new monster has popped up in the school, but she's not so sure that counts. 

Their laughter fades, settling into gentle smiles. Kaleb ducks his head as his own slips just a tiny bit, and Lizzie's question pushes its way back into the air between them. 

"It was an accident," he says slowly. "I was out with my cousin and her family. Stefanie's family. Bonnie — Stef's mom, my cousin — had gone into this store. Stef had remembered something she wanted, so I went to go after her, and..."

He trails off for a moment, his gaze dropping to the ground. Lizzie's heart twists like there's a knife lodged in it, her breath stuck in her throat. She hates knowing that there's only one way it can end as he presses his lips together, inhaling deeply. 

"A car came 'round the corner," he goes on, the tone of his voice shifting just enough to make her wish she had never asked as Kaleb shakes his head. "Driver wasn't looking at the road, swerved off, and I got hit. Bonnie apparently heard and rushed back out. She tries to heal me but it wasn't working. One of her boyfriends is a vamp, so, he tried to give me some of his blood thinking that it would heal me, but...it wasn't enough. Not to stop me from dying, anyway."

Lizzie can only stare at him in horror, her hand having moved to cover part of her mouth. Hearing it feels completely different from guessing. She's known he was dead since the moment he walked into the school, obviously, but she never really thought about it like that. It's hard to remember when he's walking around and talking so casually as if he's alive and well.

She manages to hide her emotions for the most part. It won't help him, especially after only a year or so, for yet another person to gasp and pity him. She's sure he can't be thrilled about dying or how it happened, and his voice is tight when he talks about it, as if it still hurts. But he does seem to have adjusted fairly quickly to being a vampire, more so than most other people do. 

"That must have sucked," she says quietly, feeling the need to at least acknowledge it. She was the reason he even had to relive it in the first place. If she just hadn't brought it up.

Kaleb raises her eyebrows at her. For a brief moment, she worries that maybe she should say more, but her mind immediately shuts that down as the insensitivity of her comment kicks in and regret hits her like a bulldozer. But his face splits into a grin.

"Yeah, you could say it sucks," he says, and she catches on. 

She closes her eyes, feeling the embarrassment wash over her. Even so, Kaleb's chuckling at her reaction, and she can't help but join him once more, shaking her head at herself. Unintentional puns are far better than thoughtless, insensitive remarks. If he's laughing then surely she can't have messed up that badly? She finds herself hoping she hasn't.

"Oh god, I'm sorry," she breathes out, her hand half-covering her face as her skin stays alight, burning and probably turning a lovely shade of red. "Not thinking before I speak is my speciality, I hear. I'm...working on it. Or at least trying to."

"Nah, it's cool," he assures her, and gives a one-shouldered shrug. "I didn't exactly enjoy dying all that much, but I don't mind being a vamp. I always felt out of place as a witch in my family anyway for some reason, and I never really did much magic if I didn't have to. It's fine. Dark humour is sort of my thing as well."

"Who knew we had so much in common?" she jokes, lowering her hands enough to properly look at him.

Kaleb arches an eyebrow at her. "Let's not go that far."

She rolls her eyes, but when she catches his eyes again, a grin passes between them. He then throws an uncertain glance at the fireplace, no longer inspecting it.

"I don't think our way out of here is in the chimney," he decides and looks back over at her. "Next room?"

"Give me just a minute, I think there might be something here," she says, nodding her head towards the painting. 

She turns to it, moving her hands back to the edge of the frame. There's a rush of air on her right and Kaleb's by her side before she can even blink. She pauses to shoot him an unimpressed look. He just shrugs, grinning.

She presses her fingers gently into where the frame meets the wall, slowly moving them further up. There's something off about it. The painting is too straight and seems so out of place from the rest of the house's weird, historical aesthetic. 

"Help me take it down," she says to Kaleb.

He moves to oblige and both of them grab one side, carefully trying to remove it from the wall. They struggle for just a second as it seems to try and stick to the wall. Then they successfully pull it free and lower it onto the floor.

Lizzie huffs, blowing a loose strand out of her hair as she stares at it. Her head tilts, moving her hands back to her hips. It doesn't seem so strange now that it's not on the wall. 

"Huh," she says frowning. "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it really is just a really bad painting."

"Uh, Lizzie. I don't think it's the painting that's the problem."

She lifts her eyes to Kaleb in confusion, then quickly follows his line of sight to the wall. Her heart stops, her eyes going wide. She nearly takes a step back but her feet stay rooted to the spot as the two of them just stare at it.

Just a tiny bit right to the middle of where the painting had been hanging is a dark red stain. A splatter, really, she thinks as her eyes rake over the wall, finally noticing the little splotches all over the beige walls. They were so small she hadn't even seen them when they walked in.

Her stomach twists a little, forcing a lump up into the back of her throat and making her insides turn. "Is there any chance that that isn't blood?" she asks quietly.

"Probably not," Kaleb replies. "It smells like blood."

Lizzie nods, having been expecting as much. "Next room?"

"Absolutely."

They hurry out of the room, closing the door loudly. Lizzie tries not to overthink it. Maybe it was just a bloodstain that the Salvatore's covered up. They were vampires, after all. As is Malachai. She shivers at the thought of just how far his anger could go. She's beginning to hope that he really is the only one in the prison world, or else that stain is far more sinister than she would like to imagine.

* * *

Alaric's already run through all of the possibilities for what could be going on right now in his head about fifty times by the time he walks back into the school. It's all he could do to block out Damon and Enzo's debating over what they should do to Valerie if she's back to cause trouble, both of them already assuming that she is. 

Not that he can really disagree with them. The last time Valerie Tulle showed up at his door, she brought Rayna Cruz along with her and the Salvatore-size problem that's never really left him thanks to her. He was doing perfectly fine, about to be married, and was happy before that.

It's safe to say he's not too pleased by her return either, especially not with her convenient timing. 

He marches straight over to the office, readying himself for whatever's about to be thrown at him as he opens the door. He's greeted by the sight of Dorian standing with his arms crossed and a familiar look of frustration on his face. Right next to him is Valerie, her arms crossed and looking more than unamused by the situation as a whole.

Even with the knowledge that she's a vampire, he can't help but be surprised by how little she's changed in thirteen years; her hair is the same dirty blonde colour it's always been; that unwelcoming, hard expression still rests on her face, seeming completely natural. Her eyes are still that shade of blue that pierces through him when he steps into the room.

She turns slightly to face him, subtly tilting her chin up the tiniest bit. Then her eyes dart behind him. Her face drops, any pretence of confidence falling away immediately upon seeing Damon and Enzo. Alaric really can't say he blames her.

"Well, if it isn't dear little Val," Damon greets sarcastically, smirking as they walk into the room. "The runaway heretic. The girl who bolted after her heart was broken, and right when things got really interesting in town. Shame, really. Would have been fun to see you go up against those Sirens. You would have fit right in."

"Damon," Valerie says curtly, his name clearly forced through her teeth. 

"What? He gets a greeting but I just get ignored?" Enzo asks, throwing a hand up. "I was nice to you. Here I was thinking that we were friends at one point."

Alaric casts his eyes upwards and actually nearly prays for something to save him from this. Honestly, he'd take being transported into the prison world over this. At least then he would only have to focus on finding Lizzie and Josie, something that he would desperately like to get back to.

Valerie glares at Enzo. "Don't kid yourself. We were never friends. You were just Lily's lapdog before you became the Armory's. The only good thing you ever did for me was trying to help me kill Julian, and you failed at that, so."

"Hold on, why am I getting more hostility than he is?" Enzo asks, pointing at Damon with furrowed eyebrows. "You hated him thirteen years ago. I know he's charming, but he's not _that_ good. I should know, it took me months to forgive him."

Damon rolls his eyes. He swats his hand away and shoots him an exasperated look.

"Are you two done?" Alaric snaps, turning back to glare at both of them. He waits for them to get their exaggerated forms of confirmation out of the way before he turns back to Valerie. He sighs.

"Could you maybe explain what the hell is going on now?" Dorian asks him at last, his eyebrows high on his forehead. "Should I be expecting another monster from Malivore to show up in a second? Or—" he eyes Valerie warily, "—should I be grabbing a weapon?"

Valerie scoffs and rolls her eyes. Alaric holds up a hand, shaking his head. 

"No, it's — it's fine, Dorian," he assures him, and Dorian relaxes somewhat, but not enough to drop his arms. "She's...an old friend, I guess."

Valerie's mouth stretches humourlessly. "That's rather generous."

"Alright, well, have you found Lizzie and Josie yet?" Dorian asks instead. 

Alaric's eyes widen briefly, shooting him an incredulous look. Valerie's eyebrows shoot up. She quickly looks between the two of them in alarm, her hostility dissolving in a matter of seconds. 

"Wait, you mean to say they're_ gone_?" she asks.

"They're not — they're not gone," Alaric quickly says. "They're just...not here."

"Yes, because that's so much better," Valerie says, and shakes her head in disbelief. 

"Relax, Mary Poppins," Damon swiftly cuts in. He waves a hand vaguely, casually saying, "we're looking for them right now. Even though, personally, I still think it's pointless when it's been made very clear already that they are in the prison world."

Alaric closes his eyes as Valerie's eyes practically bulge. If she wasn't alarmed before, she certainly is now. 

"Prison world?" she repeats. "No, that's impossible. They were all destroyed when Kai killed himself, they were tied to him as the leader of the Gemini Coven."

"Quick update on that front: Kai managed to claw his way out of hell when the devil decided to show up in town and try to destroy all of us with hellfire," Damon says as casual as if they were having a normal discussion about where they should go for dinner. "So, after a few murders and an attempt on the life of two adorable little kids on his part, our lovely Bonnie Bennett created an entirely new prison world just for him with the help of those twins."

"Who are now missing, as is the ascendant to that particular prison world," Enzo helpfully adds. 

Valerie just stares at them for a good few seconds. She blinks slowly, her attempt to process the mess that they have somehow managed to tang themselves up in showing on her face. She gives a slow shake of her head but doesn't quite manage to form a coherent enough sentence to speak.

"We'll get back to that in a second," Alaric says, choosing one problem to focus on at a time. "Valerie, why are you here?"

Her eyes shift to him, still staring blankly for a moment. Then his question hits and snaps her out of it with a few rapid blinks. She shakes her head again, more consciously this time as her eyebrows draw together and she looks back up at him.

"Because of Caroline," she says. "She...called me earlier, asking for my help with your daughters."

Alaric's the one staring in shock now, assuming he must have heard her wrong. Caroline wouldn't call Valerie. Not after everything that's happened. The fact that she would even keep her number is so totally ridiculous and doesn't make any sense. 

But Valerie isn't one to beat around the bush, especially not when she'd clearly rather be anywhere else. He can't help but notice her eyes darting away every few seconds, looking around the hall they're standing in. The discomfort is written all over her face, as is the pain that just being back in the building is clearly causing her. 

"She did?" Damon asks for him, apparently just as incredulous at the thought. "Really? Are we talking about the same Caroline? Tall, blonde, cute as a button, and — oh yeah, hated your guts and probably would have ripped your head off given the chance?"

Valerie glares at him again. Alaric can already tell they aren't going to be very productive if they keep going the way they are.

"Trust me, the feeling was and is rather mutual," she says tightly. 

"Then, I repeat Alaric's question: why are you here?" Enzo asks her. "Because, _trust me_, we all have much better things to be doing right now. I, for one, would very much like to get back to looking for the children who have been missing for who knows how long at this point."

"You think I want to be here?" Valerie snaps. She glances at Alaric. "The only reason that I'm here right now is because Caroline begged me to come and help her save your daughters. Apparently, a siphoner is required for the spell that undoes the curse on the Gemini Coven, and she didn't want to risk having the twins do it."

He can't help but wish that Caroline had given him a heads-up on that one. Or at least explained what the spell required while they were on the phone so that he could have put the pieces together himself. Then again, he's not sure his mind would ever have gone to Valerie. He can't help but wonder why Caroline's did after all this time.

"Wait, what spell?" Damon asks, his eyebrows furrowing. "Caroline actually found a way to stop the merge?"

Alaric glances back at him, faltering in his response as he looks over at Valerie. There are already too many things clogging up his head right now, and this is only adding even more to the point where he's starting to find it hard to think properly. 

"I'll explain in a minute," he tells him, to which Damon responds with narrowed eyes and an exaggerated show of his exasperation. He turns back to Valerie. "You're really here to help?"

Valerie nods, pressing her lips together. "I wouldn't be here otherwise."

He believes her. He wouldn't be anywhere near Mystic Falls either if he were her. Though, admittedly, he also feels that way currently. None of this would be happening if they had just stayed in Dallas. They were so much happier there. They could have made things work. But this is his reality, and he has to deal with the problems he's created and that have been thrown his way. 

"Okay," he says without question. "Then could you possibly start with doing a locator spell on four kids?"

Valerie's eyebrows furrow immediately, her eyes now shifting between the three of them.

"Four?" she repeats in confusion at the obvious.

"Yeah," he breathes out, "Lizzie, Josie, and two Bennett's."

"Excuse me, Stefanie is a Salvatore, thank you very much," Damon cuts in, almost sounding offended. It quickly falls away as he shrugs. "She does switch between, like, three different surnames, though."

Valerie stiffens at the name, Alaric notices. Her confusion grows for just a brief moment before her face drops for a second time, quickly catching on. She stares at Damon in shock. Alaric isn't sure he'll ever get over people's reactions when they hear that. 

"You and Bonnie...?" she asks, not quite able to complete the question. 

"Long story," Alaric quickly tells her before Damon can answer. "We'll explain if you do the locator spell on them. They're all missing along with that ascendant, and we need to find them. Before something happens and we have another ex-Gemini heretic on our hands."

A dark cloud passes over Valerie's face, the emotions too quick to catch. One stands out, though: fear. Even people who have only met Kai once are afraid of him. Alaric can't say that he's the same. All he can feel when he thinks of Kai Parker is hatred. Pure hatred and anger that twist into a desire to make him pay for everything he's put him through. 

Valerie nods without much hesitation. "I'll need something belonging to each of them."

"I'll be able to get something for the twins and Kaleb," he says, turning to Damon and Enzo with raised eyebrows. "You got anything of Stefanie's we can use?"

Damon falters as he tries to think, patting down his jacket with an uncertain look. 

"Would something that she made work?" Enzo asks. 

Alaric glances at Valerie in question, and she nods again. Enzo reaches up his sleeve. Alaric watches him slip something off of his wrist in confusion. It's fast-fading. The distinct shade of blue stands out right away and Alaric recognizes it instantly. Enzo shifts the daylight bracelet carefully in his palm as he looks at it. 

"I lost my ring briefly about a year ago, so, Stefanie made this for me to replace it," he says, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. "I ended up finding my ring the next day, but she was so proud of this that I just decided to wear both anyway."

He lifts his eyes from it, clearing his throat. Alaric's already staring at him in shock, thrown for a complete loop.

"Wait, Stefanie's a witch?" he asks. "I mean, we knew it was a possibility, but we didn't — when did she find out? Why didn't you call us?"

Enzo and Damon share a look between them, and Alaric takes a guess at why they didn't. It's pretty obvious in hindsight. A hint of guilt tugs at him.

"She asked us not to," Damon explains with a shrug. "We've told her she was a witch since she was old enough to understand, and she started figuring out her powers about five years ago. We were going to enrol her here, obviously, but when we told her what this place was, she said she didn't want us to. She likes her school, and she's actually been controlling her magic pretty well. And—" his eyebrows furrow, motioning a hand at him, "—I thought Bonnie told Caroline."

"Just because she can—that's not the—" Alaric throws a hand, cutting himself short, deciding to skip over the part where Caroline apparently decided not to tell him about Stefanie. For the time being. "You know what? This can wait. We actually have to find them before we can do anything else."

"I can start the spell for your daughter first," Valerie tells Damon and Enzo, nodding at the bracelet. 

Enzo hands it over to her without hesitation. Damon still eyes her as if she has some sort of ulterior motive, but it doesn't seem to faze her in the slightest if she even notices. Alaric hurries to collect something from Lizzie and Josie's room that will help Valerie find them, then Kaleb's. The faster they find out where they really are, the faster they can stop them from doing something that could put them in danger. 

* * *

"We've searched nearly this entire wing," Josie says, tossing the pillow in her hands back onto the bed with a sigh. "Still nothing. What if the way out isn't in here? In this world at all, I mean?"

Stefanie pauses from her perched seat on the window sill. She decided that apparently the frame surrounding the glass looked like it could come away easily and would be the perfect spot to hide something in.

Josie couldn't very well disagree considering her and Lizzie's hiding spot for the ascendant and the grimoire for the last week or so has been a loose panel underneath her own window. She's guessing though by the amount of knocking around on the wood to check for a hollow echo and the lack of actual echos that her theory was just a little bit off. 

"Well, then there's a good chance that we will die in here," Stefanie replies, totally serious as she stares right at her.

Josie nods slowly, raising her shoulders slightly. "Really uplifting there, thanks."

Stefanie rolls her eyes and closes the cover of the book she took off of one of the shelves by the door. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Sorry, I apparently take my sense of humour from my parents. My pops might be the only one who attempts to be upbeat, which is strangely ironic considering he's dead."

Josie's mouth opens slightly, but she's unsure of how to respond. If ghosts are suddenly real like dragons and gorgons apparently now are as well, then she might just have to reconsider a few things. Maybe those chills she gets every now and then really are a ghost like Lizzie likes to joke. 

"Because he's a vampire," Stefanie quickly adds, clearly realizing her mistake in failing to mention that tiny but crucial piece of information. "He's not, like, _dead_-dead. Well, he was. For about a year or something. But then this witch brought him back to life for some reason, so now he's just... undead."

That does make more sense. Josie thinks that maybe she's a little at fault as well for not automatically going straight to that assumption. She has grown up with the undead all around her, after all, including her own mom. 

"That must have been...complicated," she says, turning away from her slightly as she makes a face at herself for not managing to pull out a different word.

Lots of things are complicated. The situation they're in, for instance. Her relationship with Penelope is another good example.

She's not sure that complicated is quite enough for someone being brought back to life by a mysterious witch after a year of being dead, only for them to be brought back still as a vampire. Though, she supposes it would be even more confusing had he been brought back as a human instead.

"It was," Stefanie agrees, nodding. "Or at least, I heard it was. I wasn't born yet, but my mom was pregnant with me, and apparently it really affected her and my dad. See, my mom used to date him, and my dad was totally in love with him, so it was a bit confusing for them now that my mom and dad were together. But then I guess they just decided to roll with it. Obviously I've never known any different, but I've known my entire life they had some intense history and were madly in love with each other."

Josie's eyebrows go up, and she pauses again, having been about to move away from the bed to check out the little table with a drawer in the right corner of the room. She turns back to Stefanie.

"You figured that out when you were a kid?" she asks. "Me and Lizzie could barely tell if our parent's even liked each other when we were kids."

"I'm really starting to understand why Lizzie is herself," Stefanie says, her eyes narrowing a touch. Then she shrugs, straightening up a little. "But it wasn't a big deal to me. All of three of them were always totally honest about everything with me, including most of their past. I didn't even realize that most people didn't have three parents until I started school, but I always just thought that meant they were even more in love with each other more than most people. I was right, of course."

"That's...actually pretty sweet," Josie says, smiling. 

She turns back around and crosses the room, moving over to the table. It's made of a lighter wood than everything else so far seems to be, flecked with specks of oak. There's not even anything on it, just that little drawer underneath.

"While we're not quite on the subject of new family members that are actually long-lost ones and we just didn't know it..." Stefanie says as if she's being super casual and yet not at all really caring that it's the most obvious way to put it. 

Josie's smile grows as she hears her open the book back up, flipping a page, and crouches down in front of the table. The handle looks like it's never even been touched. Probably not a good sign for them.

"I've already told you everything about my uncle," she says, but the words immediately feel weird leaving her mouth.

As far as she was aware while growing up, her only uncles were her Uncle Tyler who was a close friend of her mom's and her Uncle Damon, who was practically always around. Now that she's thinking on it, she vaguely recalls her mom mentioning an Uncle Enzo to her at one point, but she barely ever saw him. The realization of why he looked so familiar at the practice game finally hits. But anyone from the Gemini side of the family was never really considered... family. 

She can't help but feel guilty for that now in some way. She had other uncles and aunts. Those little blonde twins in that photo. Lucas and Olivia. The three other kids that were scattered throughout the pictures that she and Lizzie went through together after their talk the other day. 

Even Malachai. He's the only one who's still alive. The only one that she has an opportunity to actually know. 

"Yeah, I know," Stefanie says, and Josie's sure she gives another casual shrug, "but I just mean... do you know anything else about him? You have his name, the fact that he was more than likely your biological mother's twin brother, is possibly a vampire or a witch, and knew your parents and mine. But do you at least have a theory or two on why your family's coven decided he needed to be thrown into an entirely different world away from them and the rest of humanity?"

Josie pauses. She has, actually. It's all that's been playing on her mind since she and Lizzie first saw him in the prison world. Of course, before she knew who he was or had started visiting him again, she had assumed that he had been banished for the reason that the book said that prison worlds were created for in the first place. 

To trap monsters who were too dangerous to be let to wander around causing chaos. She's paraphrasing, she's sure, but it was the gist of it. It said that it was to secure supernatural monsters. That's all she had assumed Malachai was.

But now, that doesn't make any sense to her. She saw him. He was terrified at the thought of being trapped forever with no hope of escape. And she saw him in those pictures with Jo. He was _happy_. She just can't imagine him being one of those monsters that are so evil they need to be locked up and have the key thrown away. It's a good thing that key wasn't actually thrown away.

"Sort of," she decides on saying, turning the handle of the little drawer. It sticks. 

"Well?" Stefanie prompts, the curiosity sticking through in her voice without even a hint of trying to hide it. "You gotta give me something here. He could be in this house for all we know. I would like to know if you think he's some crazy witch-vampire-thing who could possibly murder all of us or if I should be preparing a warm greeting for him."

"I don't know," Josie answers honestly. She follows it up with a shrug of her own, feeling Stefanie's eyes continue burning holes into her back and feeling the need to give her more. "I don't think he's... evil. Honestly, I think that there's a good chance that he isn't supposed to be here."

She gives the handle another little tug, more forceful this time. Something clicks inside, like wood cracking, and then the drawer flies out at her command. She stares inside at its contents; there's an empty, folded blood bag pushed all the way to the back and what looks like an equally as empty and ripped open packet of beef jerky. It's not a way out, but at least she's learning more about her uncle. 

"Well, at least we can stop calling him a witch-vampire-thing," Josie says, and pulls the blood bag out, showing it to Stefanie before setting it back inside and closing the drawer back up, deeming it useless to their goal. 

She stands and turns back around only to be met with Stefanie's narrowed eyes. Realization seems to be dawning on her about something, putting together some metaphorical puzzle pieces. 

"Is that why you think he's not supposed to be here?" she asks. "Because he's a witch who became a vampire? I've heard covens don't like that, but that's what happened to my grams and no one threw her in a prison."

"Sort of," Josie repeats. "It's one theory that I've considered. But..."

She hesitates, shaking her head. She's already spilled more of her family secrets to Stefanie and Kaleb in the last hour or so that they've been here than she has in her entire life.

Not that she was ever aware of even one family secret right up until a few months ago, save for being magically transplanted into her mom's womb after her bio mom's coven got her killed before they could be born. That's the reason that she's sure something is off about this.

The leader died along with Jo, as did the rest of the coven, just like the book she found about them said would happen if they didn't have a leader. So, why did Malachai survive? _How_ did he survive? She's thinking it has something to do with him already being dead, and therefore, couldn't be killed again, even by a linking curse. It would make some sense. 

Her eyebrows furrow. If he survived the death of the entire coven because he was a vampire... maybe that means he could have avoided the merge because of it as well. Clearly, he did, or else he and Jo would have merged when they were twenty-two.

Maybe that's why they didn't. Because he was already dead, and so the merge wouldn't work. The curse could have skipped right over him without realizing. Which would mean that maybe it would work again. With her and Lizzie.

"But...?" Stefanie asks, quickly pulling her out of her thoughts once more. "What other reason could there be? Member of a coven gets turned, coven doesn't like vampires, banishes him to his very own prison world thinking that he's some uncontrollable danger to humanity. It makes a lot of sense. Except for the part where the coven were clearly out of their minds, but still."

"I think that's part of the reason as well," Josie tells her, her thoughts now racing. 

At Stefanie's confused look, she continues, explaining herself better. Or at least with more words, not necessarily in a clearer, more coherent way as she tries to separate everything in her mind into their own sections to be focused on individually, but they continue to meld together as she speaks.

"The Gemini Coven weren't exactly the sanest group of witches. I know that the merge was a curse, but after years of dealing with it, it's like they became numb to how horrifying it is. I think it sort of broke them until it got too much. They were the reason my biological mother died before she could have us, and then they put us into our mom. I'm thankful they did that, of course, but she didn't ask for it."

Stefanie's eyebrows have raised a little, but she keeps quiet, just staring at Josie as she listens to her. 

"I think that Malachai — my uncle, the one in here with us — wasn't just banished from the coven for being a vampire. I think maybe he didn't agree with the way they did things. He never merged with my biological mom, his twin, so maybe he refused to do it."

"And maybe the coven didn't like that," Stefanie finishes for her, nodding along as if it would all make sense. "So...we're going with the good guy theory? He doesn't seem at all crazy-esque?"

Josie shakes her head, not even needing to think about it. Though, her mind does flicker back to their first encounter with him. How he had been washing a bloody nice. How he sliced that knife right into the kitchen counter for no reason. The wreck of the living room when she had come back to check on him. She's sure there's a good explanation. The knife, for example: maybe he just went down to a butcher's or something. That would make sense.

"He's been trapped in this place for twelve years, alone," Josie decides to say instead. "I'm not sure anyone could handle that without it affecting them in some way."

Stefanie's head tilts, giving a thoughtful hum of agreement. There's an uncertain glint in her eyes, though, as if she isn't so sure she accepts Josie's answer. 

Josie just focuses her attention back on the problem at hand. She does another sweep of the room, checking for any more hidden spots that could be used to hide away the prison world's greatest secret. If the way out really was included in the world itself then she can't see the Gemini's making it easy to find. And she's guessing that they aren't looking any place that Malachai hasn't already. 

Sighing, she turns back, resigning herself to the fact that they're probably wasting their time. "I don't think anything's in this one," she says, "maybe we should—"

A loud crash sounds from downstairs, swiftly cutting her off as it's followed by another reverberating clang like a sudden thunderstorm rolling its way in with a dramatic entrance. Her heart skips a couple of beats. She and Stefanie look at each other, wide-eyed in alarm. 

They're quick to silently agree. Josie moves, rushing for the door, while Stefanie pushes herself from the sill, clutching the book in one hand. She forgets to drop it as she leaps down, landing on both feet with ease, then follows after Josie as they both rush from the room. 

They fly down the hallway, and the stairs, practically taking them three at a time. Josie's mind is already conjuring up all of the worst possible scenarios, preparing her for whatever they're going to see. She wants to believe that Malachai is the good guy here, but that doesn't stop her from worrying that he isn't too welcoming of visitors. Even ones that he invited.

She's just considering the possibility of him not being the only one trapped in this world when they finally reach the bottom. They swing around the corner and into the living room, having glanced down every other hallway and found nothing. They both stop short.

"I told you it was a bad idea," Lizzie scolds, not noticing them. "But no, you just had to. You couldn't help yourself."

"Relax, it's not a big deal," Kaleb replies in an attempt to casually brush it off. "It's just a couple of things."

"Not a big — just help me!"

Instead of Malachai or some other monster that's going to attack them on sight, it's Lizzie and Kaleb. Instead of the amount of carnage that she was expecting, it's one sword that's managed to find its way off of the wall, a broken lamp, and a dislodged painting swaying at an angle on the wall.

Lizzie's got the sword, seemingly attempting to try and lift it to get it back in its place above the mantelpiece, where its companion is now also at an odd angle. Kaleb's focused on the painting, staring up at it with a furrowed brow.

Josie and Stefanie exchange a bemused, bordering on exasperated look, watching them for a moment. It's only when Lizzie groans out of frustration as the sword nearly slips right back down the second she tries to shove it back in place and nearly hits in her face that they finally decide to intervene.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Stefanie asks before Josie can get the chance, eyeing them as if they've gone mad.

They both stop. They turn to look at them, Lizzie turning her head as far as she can over her shoulder, still stretching up on the tips of her toes with the sword half-balanced against the wall. The sight would be hilarious and Josie would be teasing her if she wasn't still trying to calm down her racing heart and assure herself that nobody's hurt.

"Good question, _Kaleb_," Lizzie says, shooting him a pointed stare and a raise of her eyebrows, "what _are_ we doing? Because, see, I was trying to find our way home, but I'm not so sure about you."

Kaleb rolls his eyes. "I was just trying to get us out of here, and vamp speed lets me search a lot faster than you."

"And the..." Josie's eyes shift from the sword, to the painting, to the shards of broken glass embedded into the rug, "...mess?"

"_Kaleb_ got clumsy," Lizzie tells them, earning her another roll of his eyes and him turning away from her. "Apparently coordination and the ability to not destroy everything in sight are two of the perks that a vampire doesn't possess."

"So," Stefanie points at them with both hands, her eyebrows lifting the tiniest bit, "should we take that to mean that you haven't had any luck with finding our ticket out of this place?"

Lizzie goes quiet now, no more witty remarks or quips. She and Kaleb glance at each other, and Josie can guess their answer. A part of her is beginning to wonder if they're actually going to be able to find the way out at all. It is a prison, after all. Who's to say there even is one?

"What about you two?" Kaleb asks, nodding his head towards them, eyeing the book in Stefanie's hand. 

Stefanie glances at down at and her eyes widen a touch. She shakes her head.

"No, this is just some book about witches and vampires," she explains, gesturing it uselessly. "Apparently we have a very complicated history thanks to some big bad family known as The Originals. They really did not make it easy for people to like them by the sounds of it. Or they made it a little too easy, in some cases — you know, they're complicated people."

Josie catches Lizzie's eyes across the room. The Originals had been their first guess for who their relatives would have felt to be so dangerous that they had to be locked away. She's glad they were wrong for many reasons. They know from their mom just how complicated the Mikaelsons can be.

"So, what you're saying is, we have no way out of here?" Kaleb asks. 

His words hang in the air between them all as it sinks in. That he's right. They're no closer to leaving and going home than they had been when they arrived. And, as much as Josie doesn't want to be negative right now when there are already three people who are more than good at that in the room with her, she's not seeing their chances of finding anything increasing any time soon. 

"Are we going to have to resort to cannibalism?" Lizzie asks, finally lowering the sword carefully, using it to lean on instead. Her nose wrinkles as she glances over at Kaleb. "Because, you have an unfair advantage then. You already eat people."

"Hey, I drink blood to stay alive, there's a difference," Kaleb argues.

"You know, he's technically right."

Josie's stomach drops. All eyes turn on the source of the fifth voice in a heartbeat, their defences quickly going up like swords being drawn and shields held high. Kaleb's eyes crackle with veins, and Stefanie's clearly ready to whip out the first offensive spell that slips from her mouth.

Malachai slowly approaches from the kitchen, then stops. His eyes sparkle with a dark glint as he stares around at all of them, a bright, open-mouthed grin taking up half his face. It shouldn't surprise her that he looks the exact same as he did when she was merely a ghost watching his every move, and yet, he somehow seems different at the same time.

He's still wearing that bright red hoodie he seems to never go anywhere without, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows like always. His ring glints in the sunlight now, and Josie can't believe she never noticed it before. The lapis lazuli stands out clearly with the sun shining on it through the twenty-foot window to his right.

Josie holds her breath, and she hears Lizzie gasp quietly from across the room. Malachai's eyes shift, moving between the two of them. He lingers on Lizzie for a moment, then over to Josie, recognition flashing in his eyes.

His face lights up. Josie's stomach twists, her chest tight. Now that she's here, standing in front of him under his scrutinising gaze, she can't tell how she feels about it. He's her uncle. The only living family member of Jo aside from the two of them. The only connection they have left to that side of their family. 

Josie just holds his stare. She wanted to do this for a reason. For answers, ones that only he can give them. Or that only he might actually be willing to give to them. This was exactly what she and Lizzie have been working towards, with the ascendant, and the Grimoire. 

Malachai's chest rises as he takes in a deep breath. Then he tears his eyes away from the two of them, focusing his attention back on the four of them as a group.

"So, guess I should introduce myself," he says at last. "I'm Kai. This is my world."

He spreads his arms wide, his grin unwavering.

"Welcome. You're free to look around and make yourself at home. I have a feeling that we're all going to get along_ very_ well."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They have finally come face-to-face with Kai. How well do we really think that can end? Also, I am so happy that I got to add in a bit more of Kaleb's backstory! I need to know more about Kaleb, damn it. And I just had to throw in a bit about Damon, Bonnie, and Enzo. They're in love and happy, alright? It's what they deserve. But will the twins get to be happy now that they've met Uncle Kai? I would love to hear all of your thoughts on this chapter and what's to come! ❤


	17. I think I may just know a way for us to help each other

Candles are already lighting up the table in the corner of the common room when Alaric returns, Dorian pointing him to where they went. He brushes him off when he once again questions what the hell is going on, instead, asking if he can just make sure the rest of the students are alright and keep the school running for the time being. He's got a feeling that he's going to have to do a lot to make sure Dorian doesn't quit on him again. The kids don't need to lose another teacher.

He approaches the table, peering at it. There's a map laid out, just barely leaving enough room for the four candles at each corner. In the middle of it is the daylight bracelet that Stefanie made.

Valerie's eyes are closed, muttering a familiar spell under her breath. The beacon in Emma's office must be going crazy at the alert. Her fingers twitch towards the bracelet, brushing against it slightly as a crease forms in her brow. 

He stays silent as he stands on the opposite end of the table, Damon and Enzo seated to his left. Their eyes are practically glued to the map, save for the glance they both throw at Valerie every so often, the impatience shining through in their expressions. Even they have learned not to interrupt a witch when they're in the middle of performing a spell that's going to help them, though.

Alaric simply shifts the three items he retrieved in his hands. All four candles flicker briefly, and he eyes them worriedly. He still hasn't been able to figure out if that's a good sign or not, even with all of the spells being performed around him on a daily basis. 

The flames suddenly shoot up, startling the three of them. Valerie's eyes snap open. That's never a good sign.

The corners of the map erupt in flames, quickly curling in on itself with thin clouds of smoke. Damon pushes his chair back with a sharp scrape to the wood underneath him, and Enzo snatches the bracelet up before it can be touched by the flames. 

"That's not good," Valerie says quietly, eyeing the map as it crumbles into a pile of black ash and smoke. 

"Oh, you think?" Damon shoots back at her. "What the hell just happened? Where is Stefanie?"

Valerie's eyes flash again at the name, but her expression stays the same. She shakes her head slowly.

"I don't know," she says, looking at him. "I couldn't find her. There's something...wrong. It's like she's not here."

Alaric's heart sinks. That can only mean one thing. Judging by the resigned sigh Damon gives as Enzo closes his eyes, his jaw twitching, they all know it. He had been holding onto a last sliver of hope, but it was pointless. He could feel it, deep down.

"They really are in the prison world then," he says, staring down at the remnants of the map as if maybe they'll burst back to life like Landon and reveal Stefanie's actual location. It doesn't, as he was expecting.

He glances down at the items he had collected for Lizzie, Josie, and Kaleb, having convinced himself that they would be in different places and that they would be able to find them just like that. He closes his hand around them. They're not going to be of any use now.

"Okay," Damon says as he nods, a newfound spark of determination burning in his eyes as he looks up at him, then over at Valerie who still seems to be trying to process what's going on, "so, how do we get them back? It's been twelve, surely there's some spell that can take us there. Right?"

Alaric sighs. "No, there isn't. Without knowing where the ascendant is, there's nothing we can do."

"What, so we're just supposed to wait here and hope that Kai has left his murderous ways in the past?" Damon stands, shaking his head as he faces him. "Because, last time that I checked, he jumped at the second chance he got to hurt Lizzie and Josie — and Bonnie! You think he won't do the same with her _daughter_? Or her cousin?"

"If they're Bennetts as well then he won't hurt them," Valerie says, looking up at him. "He needs them to get out, and it would be easier with their cooperation. And if they're anything like their parents, then I have a feeling they won't be so willing to give it to him."

"Oh yeah, because my daughter being used to aid the escape of a murderous lunatic who tried to murder my partner is much better," Damon shoots back at her sarcastically. 

Valerie sighs quietly, but she doesn't press it, dropping her eyes to the table. 

"Hey, you think that I'm any happier about this?" Alaric says, the anger curling in his stomach, pressed tightly between a pressure that's ready to burst at any second. "My daughters are in a completely different world with the man who murdered their biological mother and attempted to do the same to them — twice! Trust me, I want to get in there as badly as you do!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't have left the ascendant in a place where they could easily find it!" Damon shouts back, turning halfway away from him. "I told Bonnie that we shouldn't have left it here! There were too many risks, too many people who could find it, but no. She insisted, because she trusts Caroline. That would have been great if Caroline was actually _here_!"

Alaric stops, his eyes narrowing. Enzo steps closer to Damon, reaching out a gentle hand to his arm.

"Damon, maybe now isn't the best time for this," he tries softly, speaking in a low voice, only to him. He manages to make him look at him for a moment, emphasizing, "Stefanie is the priority, remember? And Kaleb, and Alaric's girls."

Damon almost looks like he's about to give in under his gaze. His expression softens a little around the edges, and the flicker of fury starts to go out in his eyes. But Alaric's has only been poked as he stares at Damon, replaying his words in his head. 

"What exactly do you mean you told Bonnie not to give me the ascendant?" he asks, barely bothering to even try and disguise his anger. "You are aware that Kai basically ruined my entire family's life?"

Damon looks back over at him, and Enzo's progress is immediately undone. As if sensing it, he drops his hand but stays by Damon's side, glancing between the two of them in concern. Alaric can see Valerie doing the same out of the corner of his eye. She stays seated but is clearly wondering if she should speak up. 

"And you are aware that Kai tied Bonnie's life to Elena's, put Elena in a magical coma that she couldn't get out of until Bonnie _died _in a twisted attempt to make me choose between them, and tried to murder Bonnie twice," Damon says slowly. "Right?"

"And that means that I shouldn't have the one thing that is keeping Kai well and truly out of mine and my daughter's lives?"

"Did you know that Bonnie still has a scar?" Damon pauses as if for an answer but is quick to continue. "Because she does. Right down her stomach. It's about six inches, and it still hurts from time to time, especially in cold weather. From where Kai stabbed her, _twice_, just so that he could have her blood and free himself from the prison world that the Gemini Coven put him in."

Alaric looks away from him. He hadn't known that. Bonnie was his friend once, and a good one at that, too. She tried to help him with Jo. She put herself at risk for him. She brought him back to life. Just remembering what she was like when she finally managed to escape from the prison world pains him, never mind the thought of her having a permanent reminder. 

"It's not the point, Damon," he still says, quiet.

"I feel for you, Ric, really, I do," Damon says, and Alaric has to bite the inside of his cheek at his tone; that overly-sincere one that's followed up by him being exactly who they all know he is. "I can't imagine how you must feel. But you've known me long enough to know that my family are my number one priority. No matter what."

"As are mine," Alaric replies, lifting his eyes back to him, refusing to waver this time. "Which is why I should have the ascendant. To ensure that I can protect them."

Damon gives a pointed glance around them, spreading his arms a little in a show of making his point.

"How did that work out for you, buddy? Because I'm not seeing any twins running around here, are you?"

Alaric's anger flares, clenching his jaw. He goes to step towards him, already lifting his hand and pointing a finger at him. It's all he can do not to turn it into a fit and take a swing at him for old time's sake, part of him deep down wishing that the one time he actually killed him had stuck.

"Alright, let's just—" Enzo quickly steps in front of Damon, getting between them with his hands raised towards Alaric. His eyes are wide and close to alarmed, more so than he already was. He throws Damon a glance over his shoulder. "Take a minute."

Alaric reluctantly listens, dropping his hands back to his sides. Enzo relaxes a little, and he slowly lets his own hands lower back down. He lifts his eyebrows, looking between the two of them. Damon doesn't make a move or say anything, and he seems to take that as his cooperation. 

"Alright. Now," Enzo breathes out. His tone shifts in a matter of seconds from concerned to irritated. "Have either of you noticed that we don't actually have the ascendant for you to be fighting over it like five-year-olds? That's sort of the issue we're trying to work around right now."

Alaric and Damon both stare at him indignantly while Valerie snickers from the table. Damon turns to direct a glare at her, which she responds to with an overly-cheerful smile, clearly unable to help herself in enjoying his being scolded. He just presses his lips together and turns back to them.

"Yeah, well..." Alaric sighs, seeing his point as a good one. "There's not much else we can do."

"How about, you call up Caroline and find out if they're close yet. Who knows, maybe with more brains we'll actually be able to come up with a plan, because we seem to be rather lacking in any," Enzo says as if it should have been his first thought.

Alaric can't help but think that maybe it should have been, rather than fighting with Damon over something that's completely out of their control. That's never exactly helped him in the past. 

"I'm gonna give Stefanie's phone another call," Damon decides, already slipping his own from his pocket. He pauses with it in his hand and glances over at Valerie. "Would I be able to call her in the prison world? Is that a thing?"

Valerie falters, her mouth opening. She shakes her head and raises her shoulders slightly in a shrug.

"I don't really know," she says. "We never really received any calls in 1903 or tried to make them. It could be possible, I suppose."

Damon seems to accept that answer and moves away to test it out. Enzo sighs. 

"And I am going to call Bonnie," he says, pulling his own phone out and glancing down at it. "See if there's any way she can replicate that bloody ascendant. I swear, when we get it back, we are destroying it."

He's got his phone to his ear and turning his back on him before Alaric can respond. He actually agrees with him. They probably should have done it in the first place. They wouldn't be here right now if they had. 

Sighing to himself, he taps Caroline's number and listens to the ring of it trying to get through to her. Dread is creeping up his spine at just the thought of having to tell her what's going on. It was a theory before, but having to be the one to confirm it to her pains him. The thought of having to tell her that he doesn't know how to fix it is worse. It rings four times. 

"Caroline, where are you?" he asks the second it connects, not giving her a chance to even exchange a quick hello. "We still can't find the girls. And Valerie — who, I would have really appreciated a heads-up on, by the way — tried to do a locator spell, but it's not working. They're in the prison world."

"Oh god," Caroline exhales quietly, and he thinks he can actually hear her heart tearing in half and crumbling. 

"Where are you?" he repeats. "I haven't had a chance to check the flights. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, we landed a few minutes ago. We—" she makes a noise as if groaning quietly, "—we sort of compelled a guy at the airport to give us a car. It's one of the loan ones though, you know, so it's really not as bad as it sounds."

Alaric shakes his head. "If it gets you here faster, then I don't care."

"We're nearly there," she promises. "But — tell me what's going on, please. If I hang up on you again and have to sit for the next twenty minutes without any updates, even if there aren't any, then I might go crazy."

Despite what little information they really have, he obliges. Truthfully, he can't bare to end the call either. Right now, Caroline's just as terrified and worried as he is, and if he doesn't keep himself talking to her about it, then he has to talk to Damon, Enzo, or Valerie, and he can't handle any of them at this particular moment.

* * *

Lizzie's frozen to the spot. She had been hoping beyond hope that the noise she and Kaleb had made wouldn't bring Malachai out of hiding, hoping that maybe he wasn't actually there at all. But of course, here they are. 

All she can do is stare at him, wide-eyed and doing her best to ignore her racing heartbeat. He glances at her, his eyes lingering for just a moment as he seems to take her in. If they really have met before, the last time was when she was four. She wonders if he can tell them apart. It shouldn't be hard, but a part of her hopes not for some reason. 

"Kai," Josie says quietly from the other end of the room, the first to speak besides Malachai himself. Or Kai.

"And you must be..." his head tilts as he looks at her, considering for just a moment before something flickers deep in his eyes, "...Josie."

So maybe he can tell them apart. Which means they weren't wrong. He really has met them before. Josie's face lights up, obviously coming to the same conclusion. Apparently they're having different feelings about it.

"Yeah," she says, nodding and standing a little taller. "Yeah, I'm Josie. And that's—"

She turns her eyes on her and Lizzie's stomach drops. For the first time in maybe her entire life, she was really hoping to not be in the spotlight for this. She would even have been perfectly fine if Kai didn't directly talk to her at all.

Now that she's standing in front of him, face-to-face with no magical projection limit between them, something feels different about him. She can't pinpoint if it's good different or bad different, but her instincts are telling her to run, and that's never usually good.

"Lizzie," Kai finishes for her, his head tilting to the other side. A thoughtful look tugs gently at his features, and after a moment's deliberation, he says, "you look more like Caroline than I was expecting. I don't really know what I was expecting. I guess I just assumed her genes wouldn't really pass down at all. Or maybe you just look like Liv."

He grins as Lizzie and Josie glance at each other. 

"And you," he says again, quickly turning back on Josie with lightning-fast speed. He presses his lips together in a smile, humming quietly. "Oh, you look so much like Jo. The hair, the eyes, all of it. I'm glad."

Lizzie's eyes narrow, but Josie's face has grown impossibly brighter, those very eyes still wide and sparkling. She's definitely edging more towards a bad different. Something doesn't feel right. 

Kai quickly tears his gaze away, finally focusing on his other two guests who've remained silent. Lizzie can feel Kaleb right behind her. She has no idea when he moved closer, but she's grateful for it. His eyes sparkle with curiosity and delight as his gaze swivels between the two of them. 

"There's only one possibility for who you two can be," he says, inhaling deeply. "I gotta say, I'm actually kind of surprised that Bonnie had kids. Although, that's mainly because I was positive she was in love with Damon, but he loved Elena, blah, blah, blah, and well, long story short, vampires aren't exactly known for their offspring."

He pauses, then glances between Lizzie and Josie. 

"With the odd magical exception, of course," he says.

"How do you know my mom?" Stefanie finally speaks up, apparently more confident than the rest of them. Her chin's jutted out and she's practically staring him down.

Kai looks back over at her, only to pause again. Something happens to his expression — it flickers and falters, a quick snatch of confusion that's promptly followed up by intrigue. An alarm bell goes off in the back of Lizzie's head at the sight. He snaps himself out of it and laughs, grinning widely.

"Oh, now that's a question," he says. "Uh, well...Bonnie and I go way back. Yeah, we were _great _friends. Some would even say best friends. Aside from Damon, of course. Oh boy, no one could replace him as her best friend. Trust me, I tried. Speaking of, how is he?"

"He's...fine," Stefanie answers uncertainly. "Wait, did you say that your name—"

Kai hums, cutting her off and pretending he never even heard her continue speaking as he nods as if he expected as much. Lizzie can't help but glance back at Kaleb, sharing an equally suspicious look as Stefanie is left with her mouth open, staring at him. She's at least glad she's not alone in this. Because by the looks of it, Josie might as well be hugging Kai and calling him uncle already. 

"Honestly, I sort of thought he'd have lost his mind by now," Kai says, raising a shoulder in a lazy shrug. "You know, without Elena and all. He seemed pretty close last time I saw him, which — seventeen years is a long time to go without the love of your life, I'm just saying."

"What do you mean without Elena?" Stefanie questions, now thoroughly confused. "She hasn't gone anywhere."

Kai gives a confused chuckle, waving a hand vaguely around him. "You know, because of the whole cursed to be asleep until Bonnie dies thing?" 

He suddenly stops, his face dropping, an expression of worry quickly taking over. 

"Unless...oh god, Bonnie's not dead, is she? I was just assuming because of you two, but..."

"No, she's fine," Kaleb answers this time, eyeing Kai up and down. "And so's Elena. So, whatever sleeping beauty crap you're on about must have had an expiration date, because, they're both perfectly fine. And...awake."

Lizzie just shakes her head as Kaleb glances at her at the last part, trying to make sense of it. She can certainly say for sure that she wasn't aware of any curse put on her aunt Elena. Or her aunt Bonnie, for that matter. Then again, considering all of the secrets being uncovered lately, she wouldn't be surprised if Kai were actually telling the truth.

He stares at Kaleb in confusion, his eyes narrowing. His mouth curves up at the corners, but his expression stays disbelieving, shaking his head slowly. 

"No, that's...that's not possible. There was no way for a loophole. If — if they tried to find a way, they would both die, that was — that was the whole point of the curse. To ensure that they would never be able to see each other again."

The way he says it has Lizzie's blood running cold. Maybe it's just a coincidence. She just happens to get an odd, chilling sense of fear and dread through her entire body when he happens to sound the most like the serial killer he was clearly named to be. 

"What do you mean?" Josie asks cautiously, apparently now on board the wary train. 

Kai stops at her question. It takes him a moment, glancing around at them all and taking in their suspicious expressions, but he seems to realize his error. His eyes widen, and he practically transforms into a completely different person in front of Lizzie's own eyes. 

"Oh, I am so glad that they somehow managed to undo it," he says, and it might just be Lizzie's extreme trust issues talking, but he seems rather insincere. "The witch who put it on them was the worst. A real nutcase."

"Are they why you're in here?" Josie asks carefully.

Lizzie's eyes turn on her, incredulous. How did she manage to switch tracks so fast? She was so sure they were on the same page for a moment there, but all it takes is three sentences and suddenly she's back to greeting a complete stranger with open arms? 

"Yes," Kai agrees, far too quickly for Lizzie's liking.

"Why?" Lizzie presses, her eyes narrowing once more, deciding to take it into her own hands if Josie won't. She shrugs. "What did they have against you? And why only you? If they were _the worst_ then why not lock up every other vampire?"

The question seems to throw him. As if he hadn't been expecting anyone to question him on his story at all. Another alarm bell goes off as something shifts in his expression. It's gone in the blink of an eye, but she knows for sure that it's not a look that a loving uncle who's happy to be reunited with his nieces would give. She knows, having seen what that looks like every time her uncle Damon came back after being away for a few days, and her uncle Tyler every time he comes into work.

"Wish I knew," he answers her but aims his gaze back at Josie. "I couldn't figure out why she hated me. I still can't, after all these years. See, we had a bit of a complicated history; we both did things we shouldn't have, and we hurt each other. But...I would never have done something like this to her. I cared too much about her."

Whatever his goal was, it seems to work. Because Josie practically melts, falling for his lovely little words and jumping to give him sympathy. Clearly, Kai really does know them. Or at least her, and what she'll buy into with little to no hesitation. 

Sensing the dangerous territory this could walk her right into, Lizzie quickly decides that she has to pull Josie away. She really can't explain her distrust for Kai, but it's there. Tugging at the pit in her stomach and her chest, like hooks, trying to pull her back and warn her of something. And she's never one to ignore her own instincts. They've never failed her yet. Mostly.

"Great story and all," she says, doing her best to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. Maybe it's more like ten percent effort. "But we have to get out of here. When kids go missing, parents get worried, etcetera, etcetera. So, if you could kindly point us to exit, we'll be out of your little world."

"Yeah, I'm with Lizzie on this one," Kaleb says as she glances back at him, catching his eyes. He gives a nod of support and a tiny weight lifts from her chest. "No offence or anything, but I sort of wanna go home. So...?"

"Lizzie," Josie tries to protest. There's anger in her voice, the type she's only heard on two occasions, one being just before the summer break, when she found out that she knew Penelope was leaving. 

Lizzie almost scoffs at how she's making it seem like she's the one in the wrong. Their original plan may have been to get answers from Kai, but now that she's had a conversation with him, she's not so sure that his answers are going to do them any good. Or that she wants to be in the same world as him for longer than necessary. 

"About that," Kai says, his eyes twinkling as they all turn to him. "I think I may just know a way for us to help each other out."

Lizzie actually does scoff this time. "Oh, and what would that be?"

She can already feel it coming. It's so obvious what he's going to ask them to do, and she's already got her firm answer of hell no waiting on the tip of her tongue. Helping him is the last thing she wants to do.

"I know everything you need to get out of here," he says slowly, looking at each of them for a moment, "and I will gladly help you get home. But I want you to take me with you."

There it is. The big ultimatum. Their freedom for his. If Lizzie didn't consider a _prison_ world just that before, then it certainly feels like one now, and she has to say, she isn't so fond of being a hostage. She's already been one courtesy of Triad in her own home. She won't do it again. 

"Yeah, I think we're going to have to pass on that," she says without a second thought, smiling sarcastically at him. "No offence, _Uncle_, but I'm not really buying the whole 'evil-witch-trapped-me-here-for-no-reason' thing."

The hopeful glint in Kai's eyes flickers, dulling slightly. They dart over to Josie expectantly, and Lizzie's fake smile turns smug, waiting for her answer. They agreed to be on the same page from now. There's no way that Josie will go against that when it was her who made such a big deal about it in the first place and has already broken it. 

Josie glances over at her, then to him, her lips parting. She falters, but Lizzie trusts her. Before she made her decision about entering the Prison World, Josie said she would go along with whatever she chose, no matter what. They're in this together.

She sends Lizzie an apologetic shake of her head. "I think we should hear him out," she says.

Lizzie's aware of how their twin pain works, but she still has a sliver of hope that Josie is able to feel the painful twist in her gut that her words cause her. She can't bring herself to speak. She just stares at her, her mouth open, gaping at her in disbelief.

They were _supposed_ to be back on the same page now. Making decisions together, not going against each other. Her promise to think of Josie's feelings more is still standing tall and true inside of her, and yet, it doesn't seem to be doing her much good.

Kai brightens at her agreement with him. Lizzie just presses her lips together and turns questioningly to Stefanie and Kaleb instead, Kai and Josie doing the same. Kaleb falters under their stares, and Stefanie glances uncertainly between the three of them. But then Kaleb holds his hands out, sighing. 

"Look, I just wanna go home, alright?" he says. "So, whatever it's gonna take."

He looks at Lizzie as if in wait for her reaction, but she was expecting about as much. Honestly, she wants to go home as well; she just wishes that it didn't involve trusting a stranger who could be spinning them a whole web of lies like everyone else around them. 

She just offers him a small smile of assurance and he almost seems relieved, though doesn't show it. His decision would still have been the same either way, she knows. It just makes it a little easier if it doesn't mean Lizzie's going to mad at him for it for another year. And it's obvious he knows that she's willing to do it if it means they get to go home.

"Stefanie?" Josie prompts gently, her tone practically pleading.

Lizzie rolls her eyes, and she already knows it's a lost cause. Stefanie will immediately jump to Josie's side, of course, and even if she didn't, she would be agreeing with Kaleb. She catches Kai's expression morph into confusion and surprise for a brief moment, taken aback. 

"Wait, your name's Stefanie?" he asks. "But...you're Bonnie's daughter? Bonnie Bennett?"

"Yeah?" Stefanie confirms, drawing the word out warily. "It was my uncle's name. Well — his name was Stefan. Which I'm guessing you probably already know since you know my dad."

"Are you saying that your dad is Damon Salvatore?" he asks in disbelief, to which she confirms again with a single nod of her head. "I have so many questions about that, but I — wait, did you say _was_?"

Stefanie's eyes flit to Kaleb in confusion, and Lizzie can't blame her. Lizzie hasn't stopped staring at him, her eyes only narrowing more with each question as she tries to figure him out.

"Uh, yeah," Stefanie says again, raising her shoulders slightly in a halfhearted shrug. "That's usually the way you refer to people you are dead. You know, was? As in, was alive but no longer is?"

Kai's expression barely changes, except to grow impossibly more surprised by the revelation of something he clearly didn't seem to know already. That's something, Lizzie thinks to herself. Stefan died when they were four, she remembers her mom telling her that. 

"Stefan's dead?" he asks anyway, though his voice lacks any sort of real sadness. "Oh man. How did it happen? Wait, let me guess: Cade? That guy did not like him in the slightest."

"Who the hell is Cade?" Lizzie asks.

"Wow, your parent's really have left out a lot of things, haven't they?" It's more of a statement than it is a question, said more to himself with curiosity than to them.

For the first time, Lizzie can't help but silently agree with him. By the sounds of it, there's a lot more to this whole thing than what they thought. She shouldn't still be shocked or upset at knowing that, and yet, she can't push the feelings away no matter how hard she tries. She should be used to this by now. 

"I don't actually know," Stefanie admits to him, but something about her voice tells Lizzie that she's not being entirely honest with him. Smart. "My parents never really talked about that."

He nods slowly. A thoughtful look crosses his face briefly as he takes a moment. Then he inhales deeply and flashes them a broad grin that's teeming with excitement and an eagerness that Lizzie is not liking.

"Okay, well." He claps his hands together, that sparkle returning to his eyes. "Enough of that. Let's focus on getting back home, shall we?"

Josie and Kaleb are both already on board, and Stefanie seems to have been swayed at least enough to not protest. Lizzie isn't seeing many other choices. Kai's only left them with one since there is no way that they are staying a second longer in the prison world than they have to if he's willing to help them leave. 

Reluctantly, she gives in and agrees. She's just hoping that "Uncle Kai" isn't going to make her regret it.

* * *

Exactly seventeen minutes after Alaric calls Caroline, they pull up in front of the school. If it weren't for Kol being in the driver's seat this time, she's sure they wouldn't have been those few extra minutes ahead of schedule.

Soon enough, the secondary common room is alight with activity and voices, none of them able to sit still.

Freya is poring over the Grimoire Kol brought with them in a corner, searching for any mention of a possible loophole that'll let them enter the prison world without the usual requirements. Bonnie and Davina are on the other side of the room, flipping through every Grimoire possible as they try to figure out some way for them to replicate the ascendant, with Kol's comments thrown in here and there. 

The rest of them are trying to come up with any way that they can help. Caroline's been pacing for the last twenty minutes, desperately racking her brain and throwing suggestions out into the open only to have them shot down by someone for whatever reason.

It's a good thing that Dorian's practically cordoned the room off, diverting the kids away. Alaric's been trying his best to keep him in the loop, but Dorian seems to kees waving him off and pushing him back over the to the group when someone calls for him to ask another question that might lead them somewhere. It doesn't. 

"Ugh," Caroline groans in frustration, her hands tugging through her hair. "How did this happen? We were so careful about everything, including hiding the ascendant and the Grimoire! They were never supposed to know they even existed!"

"It must have been during the Triad takeover," Alaric says, shaking his head. "All magic was wiped out within a twenty-mile radius, if not more. They wouldn't have been cloaked anymore, and...I guess the girls could have found it since I wasn't there."

No one says anything, silence falling over the room. Caroline has to bite down on the inside of her cheek, looking at the floor. There's tension in the air; she can feel it, swirling around, wrapping them all up in a wave of buried anger. She can't bring herself to voice her thoughts. All she can focus on is the worry and fear crawling around.

Damon glances around from his spot behind Bonnie. He spreads his arms out, raising his eyebrows.

"Alright, since you're all thinking it but clearly won't say it, I will." He turns to Alaric, staring him in the eyes with a cold, hard look that surprises even Caroline who remembers the fond one that used to sit in its place. "So, this is your fault then. Our children are meeting up with a lunatic in a world we can't even get to because you couldn't trust a bunch of kids."

"Damon," comes three simultaneous warnings. He ignores Caroline, and even Bonnie and Enzo.

Alaric pushes a sigh through clenched teeth, looking away from him with a shake of his head. Caroline almost wants to step towards him, glancing between him and Damon uncertainly. She stays put beside Valerie. They've been at each other's throats for years, nothing she says is going to make a difference.

"I thought we were passed trying to pin the blame on each other," Alaric says, and gestures a hand around them. "Since you need the reminder, though, the priorities are our kids. Stefanie is in as much danger as Lizzie and Josie—"

"Yeah, because of _you."_

"—and we need to find a way to get through to them," he finishes, ignoring Damon. 

"Has anyone gotten a reply from them?" Valerie speaks up before Damon can switch tracks again. She looks around at them, her gaze lingering on Caroline for just a moment. "If it turns out we can get texts through to them, then we might be able to tell them to come back. We could warn them."

"I'll check," Caroline says, grateful for the change in subject.

She goes into her messages with Lizzie while Bonnie and Damon both move to check their own phones. Enzo leans on the back of Bonnie's chair, his eyes flitting from Damon's phone to hers with a hopeful look.

Alaric stays quiet, clearly just as relieved. No one else speaks, waiting for one of them to do it first, the tension only growing thicker around them. 

Caroline's stomach drops at the sight of the little red exclamation mark sitting beside her last message. The one she sent right before Kol took her phone. She must have been too distracted by all of her worrying to notice that it hadn't even sent. Groaning quietly, she quickly taps retry. It goes through right away. 

"Anything?" Alaric asks her, his face lighting up with hope.

She shakes her head, waving her phone. "It didn't send. I must have had a bad WI-FI signal on the plane. Or..."

She turns, looking pointedly over at Kol with raised eyebrows. He at least has the decency to look a little sheepish, a very un-Kol — and un-Mikaelson, for that matter — look.

"In my defence, if I hadn't taken your phone, you would most likely have passed out the second we stepped off the plane," he points out. "Besides, I waited at least three minutes after you sent it — or thought you did, anyway."

"That just means you were watching me stare at an unsent message for three minutes," she says.

"Wait, what is he talking about?" Alaric asks, a touch of concern slipping into his voice as he steps towards her, a hand slightly outstretched. "Passed out? Are you okay?"

She brushes him off with what she hopes is a reassuring look and a wave of her own hand. 

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she tells him, dismissing it. "Just...a slight dizzy spell; jetlag and all that. But, uh—"

She quickly turns away from him, looking over at Bonnie and Damon instead, ignoring Kol's exasperated eyeroll at her half-truth of a lie. Now isn't the time to be unravelling everything she talked with Kol about on the plane, not when neither of them are thinking clear enough for the conversation to be productive.

Her eyebrows lift a couple of inches, her hands moving out at her sides. Bonnie slumps in her seat and shakes her head. Damon just sighs, his knuckles turning a brighter shade of white around his phone, and even Enzo hands his head between his arms. At the silent confirmation, Alaric turns away, running a hand over his face. 

Caroline drops her own with a heavy heart. Their options are quickly dwindling by the second, as are the chances of any of this working out well. The frustration in the room is growing more and more the longer it takes, and Caroline can practically feel the hope of finding a way to stop whatever's coming from happening slipping away.

Lizzie and Josie could be talking to Kai right now. There's no way he wouldn't be able to figure out who they are. And Stefanie, and Kaleb. Kaleb may be a vampire, and Stefanie a witch, and the girls might be able to siphon enough magic from something or one of them, but...he's Kai.

Even they couldn't take him down no matter how hard they tried. Something always got in the way, and Caroline has little doubt that the same won't happen again. Something is going to happen right when they think they're finally going to be able to rid themselves of him once and for all, and then it'll turn out that they need him for something, or he's gone and made himself untouchable, or even given them something bigger to worry about to the point where they don't even notice he's slithered away like the snake he is until it's too late.

Everyone slowly, and reluctantly, goes back to what they had been doing. Enzo stays leaning on Bonnie's chair while Damon finally takes a seat beside her, deciding to help her and Davina search the oldest Grimoires they have. Freya wordlessly flips a page of Dahlia's while Kol sighs quietly, but crosses the room over to join her. 

Alaric doesn't seem to know what to do. He's powerless right now, Caroline knows, and she can tell that it's bothering him. After everything they've been through, he hates not being able to do something, or be able to take control and fix a problem. It's one of the reasons they've constantly clashed over the years as the girls grew up and Caroline had to take more and more trips away from them. 

She considers going over to talk to him. There's not much she can say, really. But maybe reminding him that he's not alone and that they're doing everything they can, together, will give him some sort of comfort. Seeing so many people working together to help their kids in one room is definitely bringing some to her. 

Valerie shifts beside her, and Caroline looks up at her. Her eyes are darting all over the room, her head tipping back slightly as she silently takes it in. Caroline doesn't miss the flicker across her face, pushed down deep inside of her for thirteen years but finally being forced back to the surface.

A hint of guilt tugs at Caroline's chest, and she can't help but wish that maybe she had thought this through a little more. Of course Valerie's having a hard time being back. Not just in Mystic Falls, but in this building. Seeing all of the changes. Knowing that Stefan isn't going to walk through the doors any second now. 

Sometimes it still plays on her mind as well. She'll hear a noise, and her heartbeat will jump, and she'll look over at those doors in hope. And then one of the students, or a teacher, will walk in, and her heart twists before quietly burying itself back in that little crevice deep in her chest. It's still strange to hear her own last name or have to tell someone the name of the school. 

"Hey, I'm — I'm sorry about all of this," she says quietly, turning to Valerie. "I should never have asked you to do this. I was desperate, but...you were finally free of this place, this town. I should have let you have the life you wanted, without any of this in it."

Valerie eyes her, regarding her for a moment, and Caroline struggles to figure out how exactly she takes her apology. There's still a coldness to her piercing stare, but she wasn't expecting anything else. It's the first time they've seen each other again since everything with Stefan. 

Part of her can't help but wonder how she feels about that especially. Does she blame her for it? Because Stefan would have gone travelling with her all over the world had he not wanted to be close to Caroline? Maybe she thinks that he would never have died if he had just left town with her and never looked back. 

She can't help but think now that that would have been better. For him, at least. She would have the knowledge that he's still alive and well out there somewhere in the world, enjoying himself, even if it's without her. And that is infinitely better than knowing he's just gone. 

"I understand why you called me," Valerie says at last, keeping her voice low and civil, that same one she almost always used to use when speaking to her. "You thought it would be better to have me here than risk your children's lives. It makes sense."

"But...?" Caroline prompts carefully.

Valerie shakes her head. "I'm not going to start listing all of the reasons that I despise having to be back in this place when your children are in danger, Caroline," she tells her. "I'm here to help in whatever way I can. Not cause both of us unnecessary pain by dragging up the past."

As she says it, she does a quick sweep of the room again, clearly unable to not associate the past with one person in particular. Caroline wants to argue that they need to talk things out or else working together is going to be near impossible. She goes to do as much.

Her lips part, trying to form the right words and the right way to phrase them to ensure that she doesn't do exactly as Valerie said. But she can't seem to get even one of the words out. She presses her lips together again and lets it drop. It'll probably be better this way. At least for the time being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, Damon and Alaric arguing. Reminds me of the good ol' days. But how are we feeling about Kai finally interacting with Lizzie and Josie? Do you think "Uncle Kai" will make them regret it? Please, I want to hear all of your thoughts on this chapter and what could happen next! ❤


	18. This really is some sort of hell world

Splitting up again wasn't exactly a popular suggestion with the group. Though, as Josie points out to counter Lizzie's protests and huffing about it, they're not really splitting up. They're not even leaving the same room.

She and Kai are just taking one corner of the library while Stefanie and Lizzie take the middle, and Kaleb takes the other corner. It turns out, it's not going to be as simple to get home as just chanting some spell.

Kai explained that they need a celestial event for it to work, something that is never going to happen in the prison world. Part of the curse, he told them. Apparently, the witch who created it didn't want to risk him ever being able to escape. Lizzie made some comment at that part, but Josie paid it no mind and made sure Kai didn't either.

She has no idea what's gotten into her. She knows that Lizzie was hesitant and wary of coming to the prison world in the first place, but she ultimately decided that talking to Kai would help them. And yet, now that they're here and have the chance, she doesn't want to listen to a word he says. It doesn't make any sense. 

Though, she supposes she shouldn't be surprised. Lizzie's had some major trust issues for a good few years now. Josie silently thinks it has a lot to do with their parents, and honestly, at this point, she can't entirely blame her for it. She just wishes that she would give Kai a chance. 

"Out of curiosity," Josie says, keeping her voice quiet as she glances at Kai, "if you haven't been able to create a celestial event in the thirteen years you've been trapped here, what makes you think that we'll be able to? Or that one of these books will tell us how? Surely you've already looked through them all for a way?"

"Most of them," Kai agrees, not looking away from the shelves in front of him, raising his shoulder in a shrug. "But not all. There are sort of a lot in here and I'm not really much of a reader. Plus, I was sort of chained up and vervained for the first eleven years. I think there was some sort of spell on me or something, but I only just got free a couple of months ago."

Josie's widen, momentarily abandoning her own search for a book that will give them the spell they need to pretty much manipulate the earth and somehow create their very own celestial event. How that would even begin to be possible, she isn't sure, but after everything she's seen in her life, she's sure it can't be entirely outside of the realm of possibilities. 

"It took you eleven years to free yourself?" she asks in disbelief, not even wanting to imagine what he went through in those years. The thought of him being locked up all alone for that amount of time was bad enough, but to throw in not even having some sort of freedom?

"Yeah, she...wanted to make sure it wasn't easy for me to escape again," he explains, giving another shrug.

Josie pauses. "Wait, again?" 

"Oh," Kai seems to realize what he said, his eyes widening as he finally looks over at her. "Uh, yeah. I guess I forgot to mention that part. This...this isn't really my first time being locked up in a prison world."

"How long were you in the first one?" she asks, unable to help herself. 

"Twenty years."

Josie blanches. "_Twenty years?_ Wait, so..."

She tries to do the math and wrap her head around it, but her mind is awhirl and she's struggling a bit. 

"I was twenty-two the first time," he says helpfully. "You don't age in these things. So, I stayed twenty-two until I managed to escape. I was free for about a few months, if that. Then I was locked back up in another one. Not one made for me, thankfully, I just made a mistake and ended up getting left there. With some help, I escaped that one as well, though. Not that it did me much good."

Josie shakes her head slowly, turning back to the books in front of her. Three prison worlds. Thirty-two years of being trapped, and that's assuming that he wasn't in the second one for too long. Her heart aches just at the thought. How could someone do that, especially his very own coven?

"Why would anyone do that?" she can't help but ask. "Why put you in these places?"

He heaves out a long sigh, staring straight ahead at a dark red, almost maroon book with green embossed letters curving along the spine. He shakes his head, a dry smile pulling his mouth up.

"The first time it was by my family," he starts, and Josie wasn't sure she could hate this any more than she already did. She had assumed it was his coven, but his actual family? "They never really liked me. Called me an abomination my entire life. They even kept having kids just so that I would never be able to merge with Jo."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't have magic of my own," he tells her, rolling his eyes. "And apparently they decided I was showing 'sociopathic signs' at a young age. I didn't see it, but hey, can't argue with your parents, right?"

Josie's heart jumps a beat, and she doesn't quite catch that last part. Her eyes dart from him to her own hands, his words replaying in her head. He glances at her, pauses, then his eyes widen again.

"That's right," he breathes out quietly. "I completely forgot, but...you and Lizzie...you're siphoners as well."

She looks up at him in surprise. Then she remembers that this isn't his first time meeting them, even if she can't remember it. The surprise doesn't fade, though, only directs itself at his revelation. 

"You were a siphoner," she says, not bothering to state it as a question. "I knew that there were others like us at one point in the Gemini Coven, but I didn't know any of them were still alive."

"Well, when you think about it, I'm not really alive," he points out with a humorous grin. "More undead, really. What with the whole vampire thing and all."

She shakes her head, barely processing his words now. Her mind is stuck and circling around _siphoner _and _abomination._

"That's why you were banished to one of these worlds?" she asks, her voice much smaller to her own ears than she was expecting. "Because you didn't have any magic of your own? I don't understand why they would do that. I mean, I know my dad always said they were a bit crazy, but I didn't think they would do something like that to one of their own."

"I'm guessing you haven't learned that witches aren't too fond of siphoners, huh," he says, eyeing her carefully.

She stares at him in confusion. "None of the witches at the school are like that. They treat us exactly the same. I guess that maybe has more to do with our mom and dad owning the school, but...I didn't know that people saw us like that. Or...used to see us like that, I guess."

"Hold on, your mom and dad own a school?" Kai questions, quickly shifting his focus.

That seems to happen a lot, she notices. He switches from one subject to another like he's hopping from one train to the next and trying to avoid falling into the tracks. She can't help but wonder if there's some sort of implication there; what exactly are the tracks in this situation, and why is he avoiding them?

"Uh, yeah," she says, batting the thought and the little Lizzie-voice that said it to the side. "It was opened for me and Lizzie. But it's for all supernatural beings. The Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted. A lot of Hogwarts jokes have been made."

"Salvatore?" Kai presses, his eyebrows raising just as they had done at the reveal of Stefanie's name. 

"In honour of Stefan Salvatore," she explains with another nod. "His brother — my uncle Damon — gave it to my mom as a gift after Stefan died. Plus, my mom's last name is still Forbes-Salvatore, so, it only felt right to her to name it that, I guess."

Kai just blinks, breathing in, processing through her words. "Wow. There's a plot twist I didn't see coming." His eyebrows draw together again, and he looks back down at her. "So, this school? It's for all magical beings? Witches, vampires, werewolves, etc?"

She nods and smiles a little. "Yeah, pretty much. We even have a phoenix now. His name's Landon."

"A phoenix?" Kai repeats in disbelief. "I really have missed out on a lot, haven't I? Didn't even know they were real." He pauses, giving a thoughtful look to the books. "Then again, I also wasn't aware that werewolves were real until one bit me, so."

"You were bitten by a werewolf?" she asks, eyes widening. "But — you're a vampire. That should have killed you."

He grins and holds a hand out, wiggling his fingers as if in demonstration of something. "Not if you're a siphoner. Can siphon the venom right out of you. Which is exactly what I did once I found out why I was hallucinating and discovered that one little doggy bite kills immortal beings. Really weird rules of nature there."

Josie's mind has gotten stuck again. It's safe to say that all search for a book on magically creating celestial events has been well and truly abandoned. This is what she wanted. Answers. She maybe hasn't gotten around to the big ones, but he's for sure filling in a lot of blanks. 

"Wait, you're still a siphoner?" she asks.

He stares at her, his eyebrows twitching. "You didn't know that?"

"No," she breathes out, shaking her head. "So, when you were turned, you were still able to siphon?"

"Yeah," he says, a frown tugging at his features as he finally turns to face her. "I thought your parents would have told you about heretics. You attend a school for the supernatural, it was bound to come up at some point, surely?"

Heretics. The word sounds familiar when she repeats it enough times in her head, but not enough for her to be able to imagine her mom and dad telling her about them, or learning about them in one of the classes. 

"Seriously?" he presses when she stays quiet, trying to think. "You don't know about heretics? Well, that's what I am. And I'm not the only one. There's one more out there in the world — though, I can't be sure she hasn't gotten herself killed."

"There's another?" she asks incredulously, her head spinning. "And she's like you? A vampire with the ability to siphon?"

"Pretty much," he says with a shrug. "See, because we don't actually have our own magic, there's nothing to really lose when we turn. And so, we become heretics. Witch-vampire hybrids. It's pretty cool actually; we have a constant source of magic that we can siphon from, just as long as we don't go too far and accidentally siphon the vampire side right out of us."

Josie's mind jumps from one thought to the next like someone trying to scale the sea after their ship crashed, using the planks of wood to keep themselves afloat. Except, she feels like she's about to drown in it all. How could they have kept this much from them? 

An entire member of their family, the only living one from Jo's side. The ascendant, the prison worlds. Plural, because apparently there's more than one. Pieces of their past, and people from it. Heretics. What else could they have possibly left out? She clings to one specific raft keeping her from touching the dangerously high flood of water.

"So...did you survive because you're a vampire?" she asks, circling back to the theory she and Stefanie had procured earlier when they were attempting to search the house. "When the rest of the coven died. I read that when the leader dies, so does the coven. But you're the only one who survived."

Kai hesitates, and she regrets asking, wondering if it still hurts him to think about. They may have locked him up, but the Gemini Coven was his family. Of course he's still going to be grieving over the loss of them. Even still, she watches him, waiting for his answer, seeking one out in his expression. He turns away, but when his eyes slide back over to her, she holds his stare and raises her eyebrows the slightest bit. 

Something in her own expression seems to sway him into making a decision. She can see it all over his face. He's good at masking what he's thinking, but a glimpse of something manages to slip through. He's clearly had an internal debate with himself and come to some sort of conclusion. Whatever it is, she at least knows that it's going to be the truth unlike everything else she's been told in the last sixteen years of her life. 

"Yeah, it was because I was a vampire," he says, confirming it as he looks down, fingering the spine of a leather-bound book that seems to be coated in a thin layer of dust. Sadness flashes across his face for just a moment, and the regret returns with weight.

But his sadness is gone as quick as it came. He straightens up, clearing his throat as he tips the book back, pulling it from the shelf. He glances over the cover, turning it over in his hands before flipping the cover open.

Josie should leave it alone. She's practically been interrogating him since the moment he walked in. But he's her uncle. And she has so many things bouncing around inside of her head that if she doesn't voice them, they'll start to overflow, and she can barely think straight as it is. Swallowing, she turns away from him, but only to stare blankly at the books in front of her. 

"Would being a...heretic...stop you from having to merge?" she asks, shooting him a glance out of the corner of her eyes. 

She sees him frown, lifting his head from the book. He takes a moment to consider it, his brow crumpling and his mouth drawn in thought.

"I don't know," he says, looking back over at her. He shakes his head. "No one's ever had to. Whenever there's been a siphoner in the coven, they were thrown out. Or, in my case, more twins were born to ensure that I would never have to. A heretic has never really tried to merge before, there's always been a loophole."

Josie's heart sinks, and she deflates. He must notice because his eyes light up and he hurries to continue.

"But it could," he tells her, sounding far more convincing, his voice full of conviction and something close to interest. "No one's ever had to test it out before, obviously, but there is a possibility that it could stop it."

A little spark of hope returns to Josie. If he thinks there's even a slight chance of it working, then maybe it would. She had been hoping that it was the reason he never merged with Jo, but she has a feeling that's more to do with him being locked up in the first prison world than being a vampire. 

Kai eyes her curiously, his head tilting. "Why do you want to know?"

Josie can't help but look up, her eyes drifting across the room to Lizzie. She's clearly ignoring Stefanie, a stony look on her face as she scans over the books, three stacked in her arms. A few words from the conversation they had not long ago keeps replaying in her head.

_"After all, I'm the one who's going to be absorbed by you."_

She's been trying not to think about it, but no matter how hard she tries, it's all that's been playing on her mind lately. Lizzie is so convinced that Josie will win the merge. That she'll kill her. She doesn't want that. Just the thought alone is unbearable.

Despite what Lizzie thinks, she's been trying to convince herself that they can't be certain of anything until they turn twenty-two. Something that Josie isn't even sure she wants to happen anymore. There's a fifty-fifty chance of either one of them winning, there has to be. 

Deep down, a guilty part of her can't help but think that maybe Lizzie's right. When they blasted each other with magic in their room, it took barely any effort at all for her to throw Lizzie back. She doesn't want it to be true. They're supposed to be equal in power, that's how twins work, even if not quite in their everyday lives.

But she doesn't want to take the risk of finding out how true that is. If she has to throw the merge, she'll do it. The thought alone of being the one to hurt Lizzie is too much. Killing her? She'd rather let her win, but she's aware of how much it would destroy Lizzie in the process. She would never forgive herself. Neither of them want it to go in their favour.

Kai's followed her line of sight, understanding settling into his face. She misses the glimpse of confusion, her mind too wrapped up and her chest weighing too heavily with worries and different scenarios. 

"Ah," he says knowingly. "That's why."

"I don't want to hurt her," Josie says quietly, still watching her examine the books while shrugging off Stefanie's witty and playful remarks. Even in the middle of a possible crisis Stefanie doesn't lose her beat of energy and love for annoying Lizzie. "She's convinced I'm going to win if we have to merge, but I don't want to. I'll do anything if it means I won't hurt her."

"Including turning yourself into a vampire," he guesses, not even bothering to pretend it's a question.

His eyes move over her face as she turns her head to look up at him just as Lizzie abandons her own search in favour of her phone. Her heart's beating a little too fast, but it's as if it's agreeing, encouraging her to say it. She nods.

"If that's what it'll take to stop us from having to merge," she confirms, jutting her chin out with determination.

The shock on his face is brief, momentary, and is quickly replaced by a further understanding. It's deep down, tucked away beneath his eyes, almost disconnected from him entirely. Like it's someone else's response forced through his body. 

But then it's gone, and he takes a deep breath, nodding slowly. "Alright. I'll help you."

Josie's eyes widen, blinking. She opens her mouth to speak, starting to shake her head and going to question why but is swiftly stopped.

"I'm not finding anything that's going to help us in here," Lizzie calls over to them, turning everyone's attention to her. All of the books she had been holding are now back in their original spaces, her phone in her right hand. "So, I'm going to go and take a look around the rest of the house. There has to be something we missed that can get us the hell out of here."

Josie just nods, knowing it's better not to protest right now. She's got a feeling that she and Lizzie are already on rocky ground as it is because of Kai, and she doesn't want to push it and risk throwing them right into the sea. 

"Okay, well, just come find us if you do find something, yeah?" she says gently, hoping that Lizzie understands she just wants them to be working together again. She hates when they're not on the same page about things, but Lizzie makes it so hard sometimes.

Lizzie just nods back, then turns on her heel. She stares at Kaleb, raising her eyebrows at him. He regards her for just a moment, but with a motion of her head to the door and a small smile, he gives in to her silent request. He abandons his section and the two of them head out of the library without another word.

Kai watches them go as Josie sighs, turning back around to her own shelf of useless books. She knows that she promised Lizzie she would be hopeful and optimistic, but even she has to admit that things aren't looking so good for their chance of getting home anytime soon.

"Are they dating?" Kai asks, confusion tugging his eyebrows into a furrow as he points in the direction they left in. 

It takes Josie a moment to realize who exactly he's referring to, and then everything in her not to burst out laughing. She mostly succeeds, though isn't quite able to suppress her amused grin, and a slight laugh follows.

"Lizzie and Kaleb? God no," she says, her amusement only growing as she throws a glance back over her shoulder at his stumped look. "They're sort of like frenemies, I guess you could say. They argue constantly, but they seem to be getting along a lot more now."

"Huh," Kai says, more to himself, still staring after them. Then he shrugs it off with an air of nonchalance that doesn't quite stick, turning back around to continue helping her. "Guess I must be a bit rusty. But — I was positive about those two. You're sure?"

"Definitely," Josie says, her grin widening. She can just imagine Lizzie's face if she had heard him. 

He lets it drop, but she has a feeling that he doesn't entirely buy it. They pick back up on their search for the book that'll help them, Stefanie moving over to help not long after. Not that any of them actually know what it is they're looking for. 

* * *

Lizzie can't help but scowl at Josie and Kai. They're talking away as if they've known each other for years. Like they're family. Just thinking about it makes her feel sick to her stomach with that bubbling anger that she can't explain.

No matter how she looks at it, the more she looks at Kai, the more it feels like a betrayal to her mom all over again. Her dad as well, somehow. It doesn't make any sense, she knows, but the feeling refuses to budge.

She forces herself to turn away from them despite knowing that she won't be able to stop herself from doing the exact same thing again in another few minutes. It's like there's a magnet attached to them, drawing her in, just begging her to watch the little uncle-niece bonding moment happening a few feet away from her.

Searching for a way to get Josie as far away from him as possible would be a good distraction if any of the books in the library were actually useful. Half of them are old tales that she imagines has to have belonged to Stefan, and the other half are similar to their textbooks back home, detailing the history of witches and vampires. Not one Grimoire or even remotely helpful book, though. 

She sighs, looking down at the three she's got carefully balanced on her left arm. They're the only ones that seem like they might have something that'll vaguely hint at how they can possibly create a celestial event all on their own. If there is a spell for it, they should definitely already be teaching it back home. 

"You don't seem all that cheerful about your family reunion," Stefanie whispers, glancing at her from the corner of her eyes.

Lizzie tries to ignore her. It's usually quite simple, really. But for some reason, today, it's like nothing is easy to tune out. Everything is grating on her nerves, and she's just not got the level of energy she tends to need for one of her conversations with Stefanie. 

"He's not my family," she says before she can stop herself. She doesn't take it back though. It's still true. 

Stefanie raises a curious eyebrow as she turns back to the shelf in front of her. She pulls an old-looking book from the shelf, turning it over to examine the blocky silver writing along the dark brown leather spine. 

"How come you don't trust him?" she asks, and shrugs. "I mean, I certainly don't, but that's because I have major trust issues and my parents have always told me to be suspicious of people who try and act too nice when you first meet them. Plus, he knows ways too much about them for someone that they've never mentioned. I think. But what's your reason? You're his niece."

"Only through biology," Lizzie snaps back. The string inside of her that is her patience and ability to remain cool, calm, and collected like she promised herself she would be this year is one more comment away from snapping. "He is not my family. As far as I'm concerned, he's a complete stranger, and I do not trust strangers."

Stefanie holds the book in her hand up as if in surrender. "That's fair. Though, I can't imagine thinking that way about my pops just because he wasn't always in my life."

Lizzie should let her drop it there. On any other occasion, she would, because she really does not care about Stefanie's life or her family. But her mind is finally focused on something else other than Kai and Josie. She'll take just about any distraction, even if it comes from Stefanie Salvatore, of all people. 

"Your pops," she repeats slowly, an image flickering to the front of her mind. "Did he come to the last practice game?"

Stefanie doesn't do much to hide her surprise. She nods slowly. "Yeah, that was him."

"His name doesn't happen to be Enzo...?"

"Yeah?"

"So that's why I recognize him," Lizzie says, casting her eyes upwards. Of course. Her mom has talked about Enzo St. John on a few occasions, but not enough for him to have stuck in her mind. Yet another one of her close family friend uncles.

"He's the guy who came back from the dead around the same time as my uncle Tyler, isn't he?"

Stefanie falters in a way that Lizzie is used to, except she isn't looking at her as if she's made some insensitive remark like everyone else usually does when giving that same pause. She merely raises an eyebrow, staring at her. 

"We don't really talk about that part, but, uh...yeah."

Lizzie nods along with her, letting her mind wrap around it, creating a barrier to protect it from anything else attempting to slip through and ruin her distraction. 

"Okay, but that's different then," she points out. "You don't know what life is like without him, even if things were weird for like, two years of your life. And he's basically a second dad to you. That's completely different from having an uncle you've never even heard of before a week ago trying to insert himself into your life and act all nice and caring when you're sixteen. Did your _pops_ do that with you?"

Stefanie shakes her head, turning back to the books. "Nah, not really. I don't even really remember any of the weird, awkward parts now, to be honest. He's just part of the family and always has been, I guess."

"See? Completely different from this."

"I do see your point," Stefanie agrees.

Lizzie stiffens, blanching slightly. "Oh god, we're actually having a civil conversation and agreeing on something. This really is some sort of hell world. We need to leave. Now."

"I think it's actually a prison world," Stefanie tries to correct her, but Lizzie ignores her.

An interrupting buzzing against her leg requires her attention. She frowns, and carefully pulls her phone from her pocket, making sure to keep the books balanced on her other arm. As far as she's aware, her phone shouldn't even be working.

But the screen lights up, and displayed in front of her lock screen picture — her, Josie, and their mom in Paris all those months ago, set in front of a backdrop of the louvre museum, at Josie's request — is a notification. A message. 

She's quick to abandon her books, barely managing to slip them back into the spaces she found them without dropping her phone. Then, she opens the message, oblivious to Stefanie moving away from her now that their brief conversation has ended. She reads over it.

_Lizzie, where are you? I'm on my way home, but your dad and I are worried about you and Josie. We know that you know about the ascendant and the prison world. Please, if you're in there already, you need to find a way out as fast as you can. I love you, girls, just tell me that the two of you are okay._

Her first thought is that their plan is officially ruined. Their parents know everything. Then she focuses on the part where her mom told her to leave as fast as she can. Why would she say that? 

She glances over at Josie and Kai, the worried knot in her stomach only tightening and expanding. There has to be a reason for her mom urging them to get out. She must know that Kai is the one trapped in the prison world, surely. The ascendant wouldn't have been in the school otherwise. Which means there's something more to him. Something that neither he nor her parents are telling them. 

Acting on instinct — and a touch of fear-induced panic — she quickly starts typing out a reply, her fingers flying across the keypad discreetly. If she can get a reply back to her mom, tell her that they don't know how to get out but that they're with Kai right now, then maybe she and her dad can figure something out from their side.

The second she hits send, she knows something's wrong. Her screen glitches out, half of it disappearing, distorting into indistinguishable, colourful pixels. She quickly turns it off, the thought of it making some weird screeching noise having her heart racing, and the screen goes black. Or maybe she's going to have to figure something else out.

An idea strikes her when she glances back over at Josie and Kai again. She quickly hits the power button on her phone once more as she gathers up all her nerve. Josie has already made it clear that she's choosing to trust Kai. Which means that until she can get them out of here, she can't involve her in this.

She announces to them that she's going to go and search another part of the house, and Josie agrees without protest. Lizzie turns her attention on Kaleb and raises her eyebrows at him discreetly. Confusion flickers across his face for a split second, but when she smiles with tight lips at him, he seems to get that something's up.

His eyes subtly slide off to his right, then he nods in agreement, not needing to say a word, thankfully. They both leave the room, Lizzie not daring to even spare another glance to Kai or Josie. She can't have him figuring out that something is wrong because a twitch in her expression gave her away. 

Even once they're out of the doors leading to the library, she doesn't stop walking. Kaleb doesn't question her, simply trusting her and taking every step that she takes. It isn't until they've rounded a corner that Lizzie spots a sign on the door to her right and sees her opportunity. She pulls Kaleb into the bathroom with her by his arm, closing the door as quietly as she can.

"What the hell?!" Kaleb whisper-yelps, flustered, spinning around to properly face her. "Lizzie, what is going on?"

She turns her back on the door, doing a quick scan of the room. Spotting the little sink to her left, she reaches out and turns one of the taps. A jet of water streams from it right away, loud and splashing against the basin of the sink. 

Satisfied, she looks at a rather bewildered Kaleb, and says, "I don't trust Kai."

Kaleb's shoulders drop. "Oh really? I would never have guessed."

She ignores the sarcasm dripping from his voice and coating his words like honey. It's not an unusual tone for him to use around her, and she's gotten to know it quite well despite how little they've really interacted in the year he's been at the school with them. She faintly wonders if she remembers meeting him before he even came to the school, now equipped with the knowledge that he's her aunt Bonnie's cousin. 

"Look—" she pushes her phone towards him, her screen lit up once more, "—it's from my mom. I have no idea how it came through, but it did."

She watches Kaleb's eyes move over it, reading the message. A small crease forms on his forehead, frowning. 

"Wait, so," he lifts his eyes to her, shaking his head, "why don't you just message her back and tell her that we're stuck here?"

"I tried," she tells him, lowering her phone. "But my phone totally glitched out on me. I think there's something wrong with the signal. Maybe there was some weird split second when my mom was able to get that message through, somehow, but it seems to be gone now. I don't think I can reply to her while we're in here."

"Alright, so, what exactly are we supposed to do then?" Kaleb asks, waving a hand in an almost defeated gesture. "We're literally trapped in a completely different world, with no way out, and apparently, stuck with your uncle who is giving me the creeps."

Lizzie definitely isn't disagreeing on that last part. She's just glad that at least she isn't the only one not leaping onboard the trust train that Josie seems to be driving. Stefanie doesn't seem to, either, but Josie's good at convincing people, and that could be bad considering how close they seem to be getting. Besides, Josie's the only one that she _needs_ to not trust him.

"I don't know," she admits as a stray drop of water lands on her arm, splashing out of the sink with force. "But we need to think of something. Kai wants us to help him get out of this place, but I'm starting to think that it's not a good idea. We don't even know why he's in here!"

"Did you not hear him talking about the crazy witch who threw him in here?"

Lizzie rolls her eyes. "Please. I am not buying into his sob story. I was willing to trust him before we got here, but the more I've thought about the whole thing, it doesn't make any sense, and I am not seeing any good reason to believe him."

"Okay, but if we don't let him out with us then we're not getting outta here at all," Kaleb points out, emphasizing as if the message isn't quite sinking in with her. "And I don't know about you, but I would like to go home."

"That's why I need you to help me figure out a way to get out of here without letting him out with us," Lizzie quickly counters, shaking her head. "There has to be a way. He has this world's copy of the ascendant, but we could easily get it. Then all we need is yours or Stefanie's blood, and—"

"And a spell that we don't know, and a celestial event that we don't know how to create."

Lizzie groans. She wants this to be easy. It should be easy. After everything that happened with Malivore, they deserve to be able to do easy this time. And yet, she can see that Kaleb is right. 

They don't have the things they need to go home on their own. They don't have a celestial event, and Kai hasn't been too eager to divulge the exit spell to them. Another reason that she is definitely not willing to trust him. If he really wanted to get on their good side and was only doing this to help them, then why not just tell them the spell? Unless he believes they're going to try and leave him behind. 

Which means there's something he's not telling them — something that he clearly believes would be enough for them to turn around and leave him trapped on his own in this world like he has been for the last thirteen years.

Or maybe he just has some major trust issues, a little voice in the back of her head tries to reason. It's not like she wouldn't think the same thing if she were in his situation. 

She shakes her head, ridding herself of the thought. She is not going to fall into Kai's clearly perfectly-laid net of manipulation. It's what everyone else has done, and she has no reason to believe that he's any different from them.

"Okay," she says slowly, "so, we need a spell and a way to create a celestial event. My mom and dad both know about the prison world and the ascendant, and the grimoire that had the spell in it is still in my room. So, maybe they would know how we could get out of here."

"But your phone's not working," Kaleb reminds her. 

"I know," she says, and looks at him. "Which is why we need another way to get a message to them."

Kaleb starts to shake his head, about to tell her he doesn't understand what she's getting at. But she raises her eyebrows, a slow smirk forming on her lips, and the realization clicks. His eyes brighten, perking up.

"Magic," he says, and she nods eagerly. 

"Kai was able to get a message to me and Josie while he was in here," she continues for him, her words rushing to leave her mouth. "So, in theory, we should be able to do the exact same thing. Now, I think I remember the spell, but it's been a while since I've had to use it, so I'm not—"

"I know it," Kaleb cuts her off, nodding, a newfound gleam of determination in his eyes. "Let's do it."

Lizzie's entire face lights up, and she agrees. She does another sweep of the bathroom, searching for something they can use without having to leave the tiny room. Her eyes land on the toilet paper. She exchanges a questioning glance with Kaleb, and he just shrugs. It's better than nothing.

She rips two pieces of the paper off, folding it over before retrieving the thin little rose gold pen she has in the pocket of her dress. Kaleb eyes it, shooting her a questioning look. 

"What? It's better to be prepared," she says pointedly. "You never know when you're going to need a pen."

He holds his hands up, letting the subject drop with an amused look. She turns away from him, focusing on the task at hand. 

Leaning the folded paper on the edge of the marble counter surrounding the basin of the sink, she pauses for only a moment to think, the tip of her pen hovering over it. Then, she scrawls out a message to her mom and dad. She can't be sure of who's going to find it, but as long as someone does, it doesn't matter.

"Done," she announces, lifting her head. "What's the spell?"

"_Vain se message sa a le main sur la vain,_" Kaleb says without missing a beat.

Lizzie's eyebrows shoot up. "Wow. You really were a witch, weren't you?"

Kaleb arches an eyebrow at her and she closes her eyes, shaking her head. 

"Not how it was supposed to come out, of course you were a witch," she says. "I just...never really thought of you as knowing spells or anything like that."

"Yeah, well, some of them are still ingrained in my head." He shrugs it off. 

"Okay, uh, if I'm getting this right, then I need to set fire to the message, right?" she asks, her fingers already twitching with the magic tingling underneath the surface of her skin.

"Yeah, but one problem with that," he says, and Lizzie stops. "You need a possession of the person you're trying to send the message to. Unless you have something of your mom or dad's on you, then I don't—"

"My bracelet!" Lizzie exclaims, accidentally cutting him off. "My mom gave it to me when we were in Paris. That counts as being something of hers, right? I mean, she owned it first, so that technically qualifies?"

Kaleb nods. "Yeah, that should work."

She quickly pulls the sleeve of her top back to unhook the bracelet. The clasp is fiddly, and she can't quite get a good grasp on it with one hand. Kaleb steps forward and does it for her, unclasping the silver chain from her wrist. Her fingers curl around it when he hands it to her, closing it in her hand. She keeps the other hovering over the message as she glances at him.

"What was the spell again?" she asks.

He repeats it, and Lizzie nods, letting the words sink into her mind, memorizing them. She really should have years ago, she knows, but it never really felt like an important spell. Now she's seeing how badly she misjudged that. 

"Remember, you gotta do this fast," he tells her, eyeing the message. "If you set it on fire too soon, it might not work."

"I know." She sucks in a deep breath and begins to utter the incantation. "_Vain se message sa a le main sur la vain._"

Kaleb nods encouragingly, his eyes still moving between the message and her. She keeps her concentration, focusing solely on the thought of that one piece of paper getting into the hands of her mom. After her third time repeating the spell, Kaleb gives one more nod, and she takes the cue.

"Incendia," she says, spreading her fingers wide above the message and letting the slight burn of the magic in her skin ripple through her arm, down into her hand and out into the air around them. 

The message catches fire. The tiny flames quickly engulf the entire thing until it's vanished. All it leaves behind is a faint scent of smoke and a dark grey smear of ash on the countertop. She and Kaleb share a hopeful look as she breathes out, the magic settling back down inside of her, leaving her system. 

* * *

The quiet of the room is deafening now. No one really knows what to say, nor do they want to be the one who has to be the first to speak up when they all know that nothing that could be said right now is going to help. It's only worsened by Kol's, Freya's, and Davina's absence; they offered to have a look around town for the ascendant, and Caroline just agreed, unable to think straight.

The only real noise is that of the students all around them in the school; muffled voices chatting away to each other, someone binge-watching some cooking show in their room, a small group wandering into the kitchen for a snack. It's almost comforting. 

Except, among the voices, Caroline isn't able to pick out Lizzie's or Josie's. She knows they're not there, but that doesn't stop her vampire hearing from trying to seek them out. It's more tiring than anything; expecting to hear them, to get any sign that this is all just a huge misunderstanding and they're actually safe and sound at home, only for her to be met with reality each and every time.

Alaric's voice slips through as the ringing stops and that automated, irritating voice repeats the same words for about the ten-thousandth time. "_I'm sorry, the number you are trying to reach is disconnected."_

She groans quietly, resisting every temptation she has to throw her phone. The message is echoed back to her a moment later across the room from Damon's phone. He curses under his breath.

"Trying again isn't going to make it say anything different," Valerie points out with a sigh as Damon immediately starts redialing Stefanie's number. "They're in the prison world which, clearly means out of reach. You won't be able to get through."

Caroline pauses herself, her thumb hovering over the call button, having been about to do the same thing. She knows that Valerie's right. If Lizzie's, Josie's, Stefanie's, and even Kaleb's numbers have been disconnected the last however many times they've tried calling them, then there's no chance of it actually going through, no matter how many more times they try.

Still, she can't help but think that maybe this time will be the one that works. What if she doesn't try and it turns out that she could have gotten through to them? Could have talked to them and warned them, and made sure they were safe? She can't bear the risk of the what-ifs. By the looks of it, neither can Damon. 

He turns to face Valerie, holding his phone up. "Is your daughter currently stuck in a prison world with the man who tried to kill her mother?"

Valerie sighs again, but it's clear that she sees it was pointless to even try. With Damon, when it comes to Stefanie's safety — or even Bonnie's and Enzo's — all possible arguments to sway him away from whatever logic he's created to assure himself isn't even worth touching. Caroline really can't say she's any different. Josie and Lizzie both currently have at least thirty missed calls each. About to be thirty-one.

"No? Then I'm going to continue doing this my way," he finishes and moves his phone to his ear pointedly after hitting call.

Valerie exchanges a look with Enzo and Bonnie, and they both make it clear to just leave him be. Caroline can tell that they're going out of their mind with worry just as much as she and Damon are.

They're just better at keeping it hidden, using it to fuel their search for a way around the rules of the prison world while the two of them insist on trying to get a hold of them. Alaric's busied himself with helping Dorian make sure nothing goes wrong in the school and that the students aren't getting suspicious.

He ducked out of the common room a few minutes ago when some of them came in. Apparently, they were part of the little group that snuck off to the town event earlier. Caroline only recognizes MG when she catches a glimpse of them standing with Alaric and Dorian. The two boys next to him are unfamiliar. New students, she's guessing. Or at least, new to her.

She keeps her eyes on them as she dials Josie's number, listening to it ring over and over again. The noise is practically ingrained in her head at this point; even when she isn't calling one of them, her ears still ring.

She waits, her heart beating in time to the steady rhythm of it. Then it cuts off, smoothly sliding into the message once more. Damon isn't having much better luck by the sounds of things. 

With a quiet sigh, she gives up and pulls her phone away from her ear. She takes a moment, trying to think as she watches Alaric and Dorian talk to the kids. MG seems anxious and restless, unable to stop moving, his eyes wide. She can see the worry even from her spot on the arm of one of the plush red couch they put in when they were redecorating.

Alaric must have filled him — and the other two boys — in on what's going on. MG wouldn't be such a mess otherwise. He's always cared about Josie since the day they met, Caroline knows, having been there when Josie offered to give him a tour on his first day. She can tell how close they've grown since then just from Josie's updates alone. 

At least he's one more person determined to help them in whatever way he can. If it gets them back to them faster, then the more the merrier. Even if they're not getting anywhere at the moment.

Damon lets out another string of muttered curses, his hand tightening around his phone as it plays him the same disheartening message. Caroline goes to move, maybe to try and assure him or to offer up another idea for a way for them to busy themselves, when she feels something shift in her jean pocket.

She pauses, looking down as Bonnie goes to calm Damon down instead. When she presses her hand against the pocket, there's a slight resistance. A frown settles on her face. There hadn't been anything in her pocket a minute ago.

She slips her hand in, and her fingers are met with the feel of soft but slightly rough material. A napkin, maybe? She might have lifted one from the plane without realizing, or maybe back at breakfast a couple of days ago with Bonnie. Or it could be the one with Kol's address on it. She had been sure that one had burned, though.

When she pulls it out, she's holding a folded over square of what could be kitchen roll. Her eyebrows furrow, but she turns it over, checking if maybe it is the napkin after all and she just hadn't realized what it had been made of. 

Instead of an address, though, she finds familiar, cursive handwriting. It's so similar to her own that she would recognize it in a heartbeat — and she does. Her eyes widen and she quickly stands from the couch, dropping her phone onto it as she clutches the little square in both hands. 

"It worked," she says.

All eyes turn to her, everyone stopping, including Alaric as he cuts himself short in his response to Dorian to turn around.

"What?" Damon asks, his eyes already widening along with hers. They flick from her face to the little square of paper.

"It worked," she repeats, lifting her eyes to look around at them. "Lizzie got my message. I don't know how, but she—"

She holds the piece of paper out to explain for her, a disbelieving but relieved smile quickly spreading across her face as she gives a little shrug. Her heart's beating too quickly, rereading the message in her head.

"She sent that?" Bonnie questions, now eyeing the piece of paper as well.

She moves to Caroline's side as she nods in confirmation, the movement jerky and too fast. Alaric's abandoned his conversation now, stepping closer, wide-eyed like the rest of them with hopeful disbelief written all over his face. 

"What does it say?" he urges as she lets Bonnie read over it. 

Caroline looks back down at it, shaking her head. She sucks in a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.

"Uh, she said that she's in the prison world with Josie, Kaleb, and Stefanie," she relays back to him and the rest of them, trying not to get distracted by Damon and Enzo on the other side of the room as they both react. Her stomach twists and a lump has formed in her throat, but she forces the next part out all the same. "They're with Kai."

The room goes silent. She catches Valerie lowering her head, closing her eyes. She sees Damon stiffen, not moving an inch. His and Enzo's faces both fall, and Damon has to turn away, casting his eyes up and all around as all of the air seems to leave Enzo's lungs. Caroline doesn't need to see Bonnie and Alaric to know what they're feeling. They're close enough for her to sense it.

Bonnie's heart has very nearly stopped, her entire body frozen to the spot as she just stares blankly at Lizzie's message. Alaric's doing his very best to hold himself together, but the mention of Kai's name and the knowledge that they were right has his jaw tightening and him having to follow Damon's lead and turn away, running a hand over his face.

"That's not all," Caroline continues tentatively, trying to keep herself from falling apart. Everyone stops again, save for Bonnie, who hasn't taken her eyes off of the paper once and already knows what she's going to say. "They don't know how to get out."

"What?" Alaric breathes out now, his voice cracking as he stares at her. "They're trapped?"

"They have the prison world copy of the ascendant," Bonnie answers for her, her voice low and strained, clearly trying to keep any other emotion from slipping through. "Or, at least...he does"

"What, so, Kai's keeping them as hostages?" Enzo asks, the anger quickly rising into his voice. 

"I'm going to kill that bastard once and for all," Damon says, his voice deadly quiet.

"They said that they don't know the spell to get out because Kai hasn't told them, and none of them knows how to create a celestial event to use to anchor the ascendant," Caroline quickly continues, then pauses. "She wants to know if they can trust Kai."

"Trust him?!" Damon all but sputters, incredulous. "Of course they can't trust him! He's out of his damn mind! The guy hasn't been trustworthy since the day he was born!"

Caroline won't disagree with him on that. The thought of Lizzie and Josie trusting him and ending up hurt because of it makes her wish that they had just ripped his heart out when he crawled back out of hell and booted him back down there.

"Hold on," Valerie stands from her seat at the table in the corner, finally joining the conversation. She approaches them, her eyebrows furrowing. "One of them was able to get a message from the prison world? Using magic?"

"That's what it looks like," Caroline confirms, waving the piece of paper slightly as she glances back down at it.

"Then I think I know how you can help them get out of there because Kai does anything," Valerie says.

It clicks in Caroline's mind instantly and seems to for everyone else as well. 

"There was a celestial event the day that we sent Kai to the Prison World," Bonnie says, her eyes wide now and her words rushing out of her as she shakes her head. "It was just a minor one, small enough that he wouldn't even consider it a possibility if he'd heard of it. But because of Lizzie and Josie's magic, it was enough to create the prison world. They can use it to harness the ascendant."

"If they can steal it away from Kai," Alaric points out. 

"They'll find a way," Enzo says, sounding assured and confident. "There are four of them and one of him."

"We just need to tell them about the celestial event, where to go, and the spell to get out," Caroline finishes, her heartbeat jumping with each little spark of hope they throw into the flames.

"Does anyone actually know the spell to get out?" Alaric asks. 

Caroline looks to Bonnie and catches Valerie nodding as well. She knew there would be a benefit to having so many witches under one roof. And to creating one of the most awkward forced reunions to ever exist. 

They hurry to find a spare piece of paper — ignoring Damon's offer to rip a page right out of one of the oldest Grimoire's they have in the school just because one side was blank — and scrawl their own message across it. 

They decide it best to send it back to Lizzie seeing as how she was the one to send it in the first place. With a few uttered words from Bonnie and using the necklace that Alaric collected that Lizzie treasures, she scrunches the paper up into a tight ball before dropping it into the candle Valerie already had lit and waiting. 

They all watch it burn until there's nothing left of it. Caroline just stares at the flickering flame until Bonnie blows it out. She really hopes Lizzie gets it, and if at all, before anything bad happens. Or at least, worse than what already has.

The reality of it hits her in a gutwrenching blow. They're in the prison world. For whatever reason, she doesn't know, but she can take a guess. She had accidentally seen part of one of the postcards Josie had sent to Lizzie and she had caught the words "answers" and "looking into it" but she hadn't thought anything of it. She should have, though. 

"This is my fault," she says quietly to herself, her eyes burning from staring at the faint clouds of smoke still curling around the candle.

All she had been able to think about was how did Lizzie and Josie even find the ascendant and how were they going to get them out of the prison world, but she's seeing it clearly now. It's her fault. 

"What?" Bonnie shakes her head, stepping closer to her with that far too gentle look on her face. "No, Care, don't do that to yourself. You just need to focus on getting the girls back, alright?"

"But it's my fault," Caroline insists, turning to stare at her with wide eyes. It's all sinking in now, crashing down on her, and she can't quite breathe. "I lied to them. They were looking for answers, and we weren't giving any to them, so they went looking for their own and found Kai. If we had just — told them the truth about it all sooner, they wouldn't—"

Her voice cracks, shaking her head as her vision blurs. Alaric's stepping up to her in a second, wrapping her in a hug and soothing her. She tries to protest but the tears are falling and her throat is closing up as his fingers tangle in her hair, trying to calm her down. 

"They're in danger because of me," she forces out. It was the one thing she had never wanted. To put them in danger. She was supposed to be protecting them. All she did was make things so much worse. 

"It was both of us, alright?" Alaric tells her softly, but his voice doesn't sound quite right, her words hitting him like a blow as well, both knowing that she's right. "We both lied to them. So, don't take all of the blame."

"It's not going to help them now anyway," Bonnie chimes in gently. "After they get the message and manage to free themselves, you can talk about it with them. But right now, blaming yourself won't do anything. We need to help them."

It doesn't bring her any comfort. Lizzie and Josie are still trapped in the prison world with Kai right now. They still lied to them and forced them to go looking for answers about their own lives, ones that they deserved to know from the beginning. They should never have lied to them. Caroline had thought that they were protecting them, but she can see now as she lets Alaric hold her and cries, that all they did was throw them right into the middle of the danger. Right into Kai.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How are we feeling and Josie and Kai bonding some more? And Lizzie not trusting him? A lot could be about to go down soon, I'd love to hear what all of your thoughts are on what's happening! Any theories or worries? ❤


	19. My family made me this way

"Okay, remember," Lizzie whispers as they leave the bathroom at last, simply because she was starting to worry about leaving Josie and Stefanie with Kai for so long. And Kaleb's protest of it looking a bit odd. "You have to find a way to grab the ascendant without him noticing."

"Can't I just snap his neck?" Kaleb asks like it's what he would much rather do.

Lizzie desperately wants to say yes. With the way she feels about him right now, she would be up for snapping his neck with her mind. And honestly, seeing Kaleb do it would be pretty awesome. 

But they have a plan. One that she has spent the last ten minutes since that scrunched up ball of paper appeared, squished in her pocket, carefully forming and making sure there is no room for flaws. Then there's backup plan B, for if anything does somehow manage to go wrong because their luck has been rather poor lately, she'll admit.

"No," she simply says, and he rolls his eyes but doesn't argue. "Stick to the plan. We can't risk messing this up. Now: you grab the ascendant, find a way to get Stefanie to go along with us without having to tell her what's going on, and_ I'll_ find a way to get Josie away from Kai. The faster we can do this, the better, but we need to be careful not to draw attention to ourselves."

"I knew I should have just stayed with my parents all summer," Kaleb mutters as they round the corner. "My mama warned me. Did I listen? No, because I just _had _to come back for the last week to make sure Malivore didn't come back and destroy the place."

Lizzie pretends to ignore him, brushing it off, but the corners of her mouth twitch up the slightest bit at the thought of him wanting to check in on them. They continue down the hallway lined with more historical paintings that give her the creeps. She just keeps remembering that bloodstain on the wall.

She's really hoping that it was just from one of Kai's bad days where he got angry and decided to throw a blood bag. It's better than any other alternative, though, she's not eager to find out either way.

They walk back into the library, sharing a secretive look and a small nod of agreement. The message from her mom keeps replaying in her head as she scans the room. She stops. The three people they had left in the room has somehow gone down to one. She really wishes that one was Josie. 

"Stef?" Kaleb asks, noticing the absence as well. "Where are Josie and the dude?"

"Oh, uh," Stefanie points somewhere over her shoulder, towards the other door. "Kai or whatever his name was said he was gonna have another look around at the books in one of the other rooms. Josie went with him, but I just decided to stay here and wait for you two to get back. By the way, thanks for leaving me, cuz."

Lizzie rolls her eyes. "Great. My sister is currently alone with a potential murderous psychopath. How lovely."

"Wait, what?" Stefanie glances between her and Kaleb, suddenly alert. "What did I miss? I know we don't trust him but since when did we jump straight to him being a bad guy?"

"Since my parents — and yours — sent us a message telling us not to trust him," Lizzie answers, pulling the piece of paper out of her pocket and waving it. "They didn't go into detail, but I'm willing to bet that they have a good reason."

"Didn't you say that your parents lied to you about him even existing, though?" Stefanie asks, shaking her head. 

Lizzie falters, but holds herself tall, jutting her chin out. "Well, _yeah_, but—"

"How do you know they aren't lying to you about not trusting him as well? Maybe they just don't want you and Josie to find out the truth, which might be that he's the good guy and they're not."

"Alright, weren't you saying just five minutes ago that you don't trust him either?" Lizzie counters defensively.

"You two are out of your minds," Kaleb declares, holding his hands up. "Whether or not we trust the guy, I wanna get out of here. And we don't need him to do that now. So, can we please just find Josie and get the hell out of here before we argue over who's the good guy and who's the bad guy?"

Stefanie shoots them a confused look, but Lizzie's already walking — more like marching — across the room in search of Josie and Kai. Kaleb explains the message to her on the way, filling her in on the plan. 

"So much for the_ without telling her _part," Lizzie mutters, unable to keep the irritation out of her voice.

She can practically sense Kaleb rolling his eyes behind her. "Sort of had to," he says. "Besides, that was only to make sure your uncle—"

"He's _not_ my uncle."

"—didn't overhear us," Kaleb finishes, ignoring her protest.

"If the plan goes wrong now, it's on you," she says, turning to throw him a warning glare over her shoulder, but it isn't totally sincere. If something goes wrong, they resort to the backup plan.

It's failproof. She hopes. A little part of her can't help but think that she isn't usually the one making the big decisions about these things. She always tries, but she's sure that someone else steps in ― to steal her hero spotlight — and makes a second plan. It's not Josie, that's for sure. 

Brushing it off to the side, she just presses on down the hallway. They peer into each room on the way, searching for Josie and Kai in each one. To her dismay, they come up empty with all of them. 

The worry's starting to create a pit in her stomach, like a black hole threatening to absorb her from the inside out. Each second that it takes them to find them is another that Josie spends with Kai. Lizzie faintly wonders if maybe Stefanie was right.

If Kai isn't actually the bad guy that their parents are making him sound like, then maybe Josie isn't in any sort of danger. Maybe they can trust him to actually help. She still has the feeling of unease that she can't shake, but it might just be nothing. Maybe she's overreacting and overthinking the entire thing. It's not like she's gotten any twin pain yet.

They come across an extension of the common room, practically coming full circle from where they started at the foyer. Stefanie wanders across the room, something catching her eye. Lizzie just sighs, glancing around as Kaleb moves to follow her. According to him and his _superior _hearing, they're not too far away. Down another hallway or two.

"You know, you'd think you'd be able to just tell us exactly where they are," she complains as she walks toward the stairs. "I mean, you are a vampire. Isn't that one of your great abilities?"

"Hey, remember what I said? I'm not exactly at my strongest right now, alright?" he shoots back at her from beside the couch closest to her, Stefanie a little away from him as she examines something. "I didn't get a chance to feed while we were in town since I was too worried about you hovering and going running to your dad. Or giving me another witchy migraine."

"_I_ would have given you a _witchy migraine_ if you were feeding on anyone," Stefanie says, turning to look at him over her shoulder. "You know what my parents have said about that, especially my pops. Blood bags only."

Lizzie can't help but discreetly smile a little, sucking on her lips to keep it hidden for the most part. It's weird agreeing with Stefanie as much as she has been in the last hour or so, but she'll admit it's kind of funny to see Kaleb being lectured by someone else. Especially Stefanie. 

He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Maybe if we actually had any real ones at the school, I wouldn't have to resort to feeding on people."

"I told you, I'll talk to my mom about it," Lizzie says, all sincerity now. "She'll change the rules. I'm not even sure she really had any say in that one in the first place since she isn't exactly on the animal diet herself. It was my dad's decision."

"I've met your mom twice, and I already like her better," Kaleb says bluntly. "No offence."

She doesn't say anything, though Stefanie does hit his arm gently, shooting him an incredulous look. Lizzie throws another glance around them before continuing her strides, intent on going home to actually be able to keep her word to him. Before she gets more than five steps, Stefanie stops her. 

"Hey, out of general curiosity, what's Kai's full name?" she asks her, making Lizzie turn back on her heel to stare at her. 

Her eyes narrow, suspicion quickly bubbling up inside of her, as it usually does with Stefanie.

"Why do you want to know?" she asks, and a beat passes as Stefanie doesn't answer right away, looking away as she fumbles and tries to come up with a good reason but only managing a shrug and a nervous huff of a chuckle. "You want to look him up, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," Stefanie agrees right away, her shoulders collapsing. "Look, you keep saying you don't trust him. So, I thought, because my phone seems to be catching some sort of WI-FI signal, I could just type in his name and see if anything comes up. If nothing does, then maybe we have nothing to be worried about."

Lizzie takes a moment as well. She just stares at her, her eyes still narrowed as she digests her logic. It's not the worst idea, admittedly. And despite their parents giving them a warning not to trust them, she would prefer a solid, reliable reason for why. 

"Malachai," she says in response, and Stefanie's face lights up at her cooperation. She watches her fingers move, typing the name in. Lizzie pauses. "I don't remember his last name."

Stefanie's face falls. "You don't remember his last name? You're related to him!"

"Through the side of a family that I never met!" Lizzie says defensively. "My name isn't exactly the same as his, and neither is my mom's. But Jo's is...uh..."

"You have to have heard it somewhere," Kaleb prompts now, clearly eager enough to finally get a definitive answer on whether they're trusting Kai or not. 

"I think...Jo's last name was something like..." She brightens as the name pops into her head. "Laughlin! Her last name was Laughlin! Josette Laughlin. Yeah, that sounds right."

"So, that's Kai's last name as well?" Stefanie asks, already typing it in.

Lizzie hesitates. She knows it was Jo's, but she can't help but think that she remembers her dad saying something about it not being her real last name. It was some sort of fake identity. There was something else. 

"Wait, no," she quickly says. "Try Parker."

Stefanie pauses now to raise her eyebrows at her in question, Kaleb doing the same. 

"I've just got a feeling," she gives a dismissive wave, "just try it."

Stefanie listens and tries it. Lizzie moves back over to where she and Kaleb are, her heart beating that little bit faster with anticipation. Part of her isn't even expecting it to work, but her optimistic, "semester of yes!" attitude hasn't quite faded even with everything going on, and she can't help but be hopeful. 

A beat passes and Stefanie holds up a finger in a gesture of telling them to hold on. It might not even be able to pick up a signal; just because one text was able to get through, doesn't mean that the internet is going to work. But Stefanie's face lights up, and Lizzie's heart jumps. Then her face quickly falls right back down.

"What? What is it?" Lizzie presses, tempted to take her phone to see it.

Stefanie just shakes her head, her eyebrows knitting together. The thin string of Lizzie's patience is quickly pulled taut once more, ready to snap as she forces herself not to do the same. 

A look of horror flashes across Stefanie's face, and Lizzie is positive that isn't a good sign.

"The first article that came up was from 1994," she starts to explain, her voice strangely small and quiet. 

Lizzie's mouth and eyebrows are drawn with confusion, frowning. She tries to do the math in her head but quickly abandons it as Stefanie shakes her head again, her eyes moving across her phone.

"'Family Massacred in Portland,'" she reads out.

Lizzie's heart stops. "What?"

"'A community is in a state of shock after four children were found murdered, one left for dead, in their Portland home on May 9th," Stefanie continues despite it being clear by the look on her face that she would rather not. "There's some quote from a neighbour talking about how nice they all seemed. And then...'the oldest brother has been reported as missing from the crime scene.'"

Lizzie's chest tightens. She can't breathe. It's like she's somehow forgotten how, her lungs suddenly requiring her to do it manually. She has to swallow, feeling the build-up that usually only comes before an episode. 

"Does it say anything else?" she asks, her voice barely audible and yet feeling loud against the thrum of her heartbeat in her ears, blood rushing through her.

Stefanie looks back down at her phone. Lizzie doesn't even need her to answer; she can already tell what she's going to say, as much as she hopes she won't. Except she needs to hear her say it.

"His name was Malachai," she confirms quietly. "Aged twenty-two."

Lizzie doesn't even know how to react. Murdered. Massacred.

"Maybe it was a different Malachai," Kaleb suggests, but he doesn't sound so sure, and she knows he's only saying it to try and give her — and himself and Stefanie — some sort of comfort by the gentle tone he uses. "We don't even know when the guy was born. It could just be a coincidence. A really shady coincidence."

Lizzie's taken aback to find herself wanting him to be right. She wanted a reason not to trust Kai, something other than her parent's warning to go on, but not this. This isn't what she wanted. 

Pulling herself together, she sucks in a breath and tears her blank stare away from the window.

"Let's go find out," she says. "And get my sister the hell away from him."

She doesn't wait for their response. Turning on her heel, she marches out of the living room and down the hallway, glancing in each and every room. Kaleb and Stefanie are quick at her heels, and Kaleb points her in the right direction.

It doesn't take long for them to find them, in the smaller extension of both the library and the living room. There are bookcases lining the wall to her right, only stopped by the fireplace in the middle, the wall opposite her completely covered in floor-to-ceiling windows. 

She doesn't spare them a look. Her eyes are focused on the two people in the room, examining something by the couch that matches every other single piece of furniture in the house. For vampires, she really thought they would have better taste. Historical, even, to match the paintings. 

"Malachai Parker," Lizzie announces the second they walk into the room, staring directly at Kai. 

He lifts his head, as does Josie, looking over at them. He raises one eyebrow, the other lowering.

"That is your name, correct?" Lizzie presses, only pausing for a moment to let him nod his confirmation. "Great. And, uh, out of curiosity: what year were you born?"

"Lizzie, what are you doing? What's going on?" Josie asks, glancing from Kai, to her, to Kaleb and Stefanie still situated halfway behind her and a little to the left. 

"I was born in 1972," Kai answers her, though seems uncertain about doing so, his confusion showing. There's something else, though. Suspicion. Knowing. 

Lizzie's heart drops into the pit that's opened up in her stomach, swallowing it whole. She already did the math during their search. That's the year. The one that would add up perfectly. 

"So, that means that you would have been twenty-two in 1994," she says, emphasizing for him to see where she's going with this. Let her be wrong. She desperately still wants to be wrong. "Right?"

There's a pause. A beat passes, and she doesn't break eye contact once. Meaning she sees it. The flicker in his eyes — all across his face, actually. The realization quickly dawns on him, and she's certain a little bit of colour actually drains away from his face right in front of her eyes. 

The silence is deafening. And it's the answer she didn't want. 

"Lizzie, what is going on?" Josie repeats, her voice rising slightly as she continues to look between them.

"Jo, you might wanna come over here," she says in response, "considering you're currently standing next to a murderer."

Josie's face drops. "What?"

Kai shakes his head, his eyes darting from Lizzie to Josie, something close to panic flashing across his face. Lizzie's ready to move forward, just like she had been with Triad. He makes even one move towards Josie and she won't hesitate to get between them. 

"I can explain," he quickly says, aiming it at all four of them, almost pleading with them to let him. 

Josie's eyes widen, snapping to him in shock. She backs away now, much to Lizzie's relief, and doesn't protest when Lizzie takes a step forward of her own to take her hand and pull her back beside her.

"Alright," Kaleb says, stepping up beside them as he stares Kai down, "how 'bout you start telling us the truth right now. Or else we ain't letting you out of here."

Lizzie wants to protest that they aren't letting him out at all. But Kaleb glances at her as if sensing it, and she stops herself. There's something about the look he sends her that has her trusting him. Maybe it would be better to hear the entire story, as horrifying as it'll be, rather than just snippets of an article from 1994. 

Kai holds his hands up as if taming wild animals ready to rip his throat out. Lizzie's genuinely considering that spell to snap his neck, so she can't say that she blames him all that much for the comparison. 

"Okay," he breathes out, eyes the size of saucers, "I'm guessing you somehow found that old article about my family? The massacre in Portland?"

"Yeah," Lizzie confirms coldly. "So, don't bother trying to leave out any details. Hanging, stabbing, drowning. We know all the gory details, but please, go ahead, add some more."

She feels Josie's hand tense in hers and catches her terrified glance out of the corner of her eye. It's taking everything in Lizzie to keep herself calm, letting her own fear fuel her anger instead. It's easier. It always has been. Anger is better than fear. 

"Alright, yes. I — I did do that. I killed four of my siblings," he says, and a dizzying spell of nausea hits her square in the chest, lodging in her throat. "And I...stabbed Jo then left her to die."

"What?" Josie breathes, her voice breaking as she stares at him in horror. "You tried to kill her?"

Kai hesitates. Lizzie's skin prickles, the hair on the back of her neck standing up as dread creeps across her shoulders, sinking its bony claws into her spine. He flicks his tongue across his lips as he looks down, avoiding their stares.

"I did kill her."

Lizzie grips Josie's hand tighter without even noticing. She can't move. Her heart is beating too fast, knocking into her ribs, but all she can do is stare at Kai as her eyes being to prickle like her skin. 

"You..." she starts, but the words are getting caught against her throat, sharp and painful. She swallows. "You were the one who killed her? You — her twin brother?"

"When you came here, I thought you would have known," Kai says, shaking his head as he lifts his eyes back up to them.

Lizzie wants to look away, but she forces herself to stare right back at him, refusing to waver. It makes her sick to her stomach and it's taking everything in her to fight the rising feeling in her throat.

"Why would we have come here if we knew that you were the man who killed our biological mother?" Josie spits out, a tear already tracking its way down her cheek. 

"I don't know, I just assumed that your parents would have told you about me. You'd think that they would have so that something like this wouldn't happen. But hey, I can't say I'm all that mad that they didn't. I mean, my dad erased all evidence of me from Liv and Luke's life after I tried to kill them, so, I'm not that surprised."

Lizzie breathes out a scoff, her whole body shaking with the one movement, her chest pushing back in on her as if trying to double over from a pain that isn't physical and yet hurts more than anything she's ever experienced. She ignores how her vision blurs, biting her bottom lip hard. 

"That's why they locked you in the first prison world," Josie says quietly as if it all makes sense now. "Your family. It wasn't because you were a siphoner, it was because you murdered nearly everyone."

"I didn't lie to you," Kai is quick to say to her, shaking his head again. "I told you it was because they said I was showing sociopathic signs at a young age, and combined with the fact that I was a siphoner and would automatically win the merge, my parents didn't feel that I was fit to be the leader of the coven. So..."

He trails off, raising his shoulder slightly in an almost helpless shrug.

"They created an entire world to be your prison," Stefanie finishes for him. "To make sure you couldn't hurt anyone else."

"Then how did you escape?" Lizzie demands through clenched teeth.

Kai's eyes flick to Stefanie and Kaleb. "Well, that's actually how I met Bonnie and Damon," he explains, and surprise flashes across both their faces. "They — they were sort of dead, but the other side was collapsing, so, they somehow got transported into my prison world."

"And they let you out?" Kaleb asks, shaking his head. "Nah, they wouldn't do that."

That guilty hesitation returns to Kai, seeming so unnatural and out of place twisted into his features.

"That's why I know your name," Stefanie whispers.

Her voice and face both grief-stricken as some realization comes crashing down on her. Lizzie turns her head to look at her with the rest of them. Stefanie doesn't even blink, her eyes shining and her mouth set in a firm line as her chin wobbles slightly. Kai lifts his head, holding her stare with wide eyes.

"My mom told me about you," she continues, and her voice is cold and angrier than she has ever sounded when talking to Lizzie. "When I asked her about the scar on her stomach. She told me that you gave it to her. I was seven, and my mom had to explain to me that there was a person who had hurt her. Who had used her, shot her. Kidnapped her and stabbed her. And then, worst of all, left her to die all alone while he escaped."

Her voice goes from deathly quiet to rising with each word, her emotions only going with them like a whirlwind of anger and hatred. Lizzie isn't imagining the vibration underneath her feet. She glances behind her to find the books moving on the shelves, getting closer to the edge. 

"That was you?" Kaleb asks through gritted teeth, and he looks about two seconds away from making good on snapping Kai's neck; his eyes are burning with anger, the rest of his expression unreadable. "You were the guy who did that to her?"

"Look," Kai says slowly, his wide eyes darting around them, clearly able to sense what's happening as well, "that was a long time ago. Like, nineteen years ago. And — I'm not proud of it, but I—"

"Oh, you're not proud of it," Stefanie says with a humourless laugh, shaking. "Oh, well, that makes it all alright then, doesn't it? It doesn't matter that my mom still has nightmares about you, or that she has a constant reminder of the worst time in her life _because of you_. No, that's okay, because at least you're not proud of it."

The vibrations are only growing, reverberating through the air around them. Lizzie's aware of the walls starting to shake, the sound of books falling to the ground, the scrape of wood as the table in corner of the room shakes violently. Her heartbeat speeds up, glancing at Stefanie, but she doesn't seem to be aware of what she's doing. She spots a trickle of blood coming from her nose. 

"That wasn't what I meant," Kai hurries to try and defend himself, the panic lacing his words. 

"You were in the first prison world for twenty years," Josie cuts him off, and Lizzie can't help but be surprised by the cold tone of her voice. "Because you murdered your family and tried to kill your own twin. You escaped by trying to murder two more people. What did you do then?"

"I..." Kai hesitates under their icy stares, demanding the truth as the very structure they stand on threatens to collapse beneath them. "I tracked down Liv, Luke, and...Jo. The three of them were living in Mystic Falls."

The names Liv and Luke register in the back of Lizzie's mind. A pair of little blond twins pop up. They weren't any of the four siblings he killed. The relief at the knowledge doesn't quite have a place to settle inside of her, floating above the overflow of anger, fear, and every other emotion that she's trying to keep at bay. 

"I got a feeling I know how this story ends," Kaleb says. "Let me guess: you killed all three of them?"

"No," Kai quickly says, his eyes darting to the ceiling, but then pauses, and he hurries to correct himself when he receives a scoff in response. "Okay, well, sort of. But not right away."

"And that's supposed to make it better?" Josie asks, her voice rising just like Stefanie's, eyeing him with disgust and something akin to betrayal. It's doing a hell of a good job at covering up the fear and hurt that Lizzie can feel crawling up her arm from the hand she's still holding.

She looks down and realizes it's not just their connection she can feel. Josie's fingers are curled tightly around her hand, surrounded by a faint red glow that only seems to be brightening with Josie's anger. All around them, books continue to hit the ground with loud thuds, the windows shake, and Lizzie can't help but glance up at the chandelier in the middle of the ceiling with worry. 

"Of course not," Kai quickly says, shaking his head. He swallows but presses on all the same even in the midst of it all. "I didn't want to kill Jo. I wanted her to do the merge with me, so that I would be the rightful leader of the coven, like I was supposed to be. But...the family were trying to insist that Liv and Luke do it the second they turned twenty-two."

"What family?" Lizzie spits, unable to stop herself. "You killed them, remember?"

She would say that Kai actually looks hurt by her remark. It's brief, though, quickly overtaken by alarm as the house gives a rumbling groan in protest to the magic being thrown at its structure. The floorboard start to crack and splinter, the chandelier swaying back and forth in a way that makes Lizzie want to step back. 

Stefanie and Josie don't seem to notice. Both of them are focused on Kai, so caught up in their own magic that they're oblivious to everything else around them. Lizzie's heart leaps into her throat and she jumps as a book hits her ankle, sharing a panicked look with Kaleb.

"Jo had hidden her magic in a knife, so, I forced her to take it back," Kai hurries to explain. "But things didn't quite go to plan, and long story short: Luke offered himself up to merge with me since, thanks to the prison world, we were both twenty-two. You can clearly see how that worked out for him."

"Wait, you merged with someone else?" Josie asks, her eyebrows furrowing. "I didn't think that was possible."

"It's technically not," Kai says, and explains, "we thought it had worked since I became the leader of the coven, but then I got sick. And if I died, then so did the coven. So, I went to Jo and she gave me her magic, like she was supposed to. It worked. So, technically, no, merging with someone else doesn't work out that well."

"So, Luke died for nothing then," Lizzie says, her heart clenching for the uncle she never even knew. She can't picture his face past the happy, smiling three-year-old boy in that photo. 

Kai shakes his head and something flickers in his eyes. Like a switch has been momentarily flipped, and instead of Kai, she's looked into the eyes of that uncle. She knows how the merge works. He absorbs traits from him, parts of his personality, as well as his magic. Inside of him is a little piece of Luke.

"He was just trying to save Liv, his twin," Kai says quietly, his eyes flicking from her to Josie with some sort of look. 

Lizzie glances at Josie only to find her staring straight ahead, her eyes fixed on Kai. Some sort of realization seems to be dawning on her, the subtle little lines of it written all over her face, only for Lizzie to be able to catch. It doesn't stop the house's shaking, her anger still there, burning bright through it.

Kai speaks back up, staring at the ceiling warily. The switch flips back. 

"A little while after the merge, Damon asked me for help with another prison world, one from 1903," he starts, looking back at them. "It was created to lock up heretics. Half siphon-witch, half-vampire. All ex-members of the Gemini coven, with the exception of Lily Salvatore. Damon and Stefan's mother. She was just a vampire, but she was their leader."

"Wait, a _heretic_?" Lizzie repeats in confusion, throwing another glance at Josie. She doesn't seem as fazed as she was expecting. "Since when were witch-vampire hybrids a thing? I thought that was impossible?"

"It's not," Kai says. "But the point is that I agreed to help Damon. If...he would get Bonnie to let me apologize to her now that she was out of the prison world. She eventually agreed, and we travelled into the 1903 prison world to find Damon's mom. Together. Except, I wasn't aware of the part of the plan that involved leaving me trapped there with a bunch of desiccated heretics."

Kaleb scoff. "As if you didn't deserve it."

"I was trying to help them," Kai speaks sharply, his face flushing with indignation. "I was trying to turn over a new leaf, as they say. I actually felt bad about what I did to Bonnie, but she just—" he gives a dry chuckle that draws itself out as he shakes his head, setting Lizzie on edge as if she weren't already, "—she couldn't get over that damn grudge she held against me."

"That _damn grudge_?!" Stefanie shouts incredulously, her voice making the floor underneath Lizzie's feet split. "You tried to kill her, you sick bas—"

The windows shatter, blowing in. Glass flies everywhere. Kaleb's arms fly out, tugging Stefanie down, and Lizzie yanks Josie, ducking and covering both their heads. She feels shards land everywhere, pelting her sharply. The floors shake harder, the entire building still vibrating with urgency, the walls starting to crumble around them.

The rainstorm of glass ceases within a moment. Lizzie cautiously moves, lifting her head, but she's thrown off her balance as the floor gives another audible crack and she looks down to find it splitting in half. She moves, pulling Josie to the left as Kaleb and Stefanie cautiously move to stand back up, ignoring the glass that litters them and falls to the ground with every movement.

"Okay, yeah, maybe you've got a point there," Kai quickly shouts back, having to to be heard over the noises the house makes, his arms still raised to partially cover his head. "Maybe I did deserve that. You're right."

"Clearly you didn't stay locked up there forever either," Josie points out, barely fazed by the broken glass tangled up in her hair. "I don't even care how you escaped that one. Just tell us what happened when you got out. Who did you try to kill that time?"

That look crosses his face again and Lizzie's stomach drops. Her hand grips Josie's arm a little tighter, but she's careful as she glances down, feeling sharp points underneath her skin. She blanches at the sight of the shards lodged into her hand as well as Josie's arm. 

"I made a deal with Lily Salvatore," he says. "She fed me some of her blood, I help free her heretics."

"And?" Josie presses through clenched teeth. "What did you do? How did you turn?"

"When I got out, it was the day of Jo's wedding," he says slowly, meaningfully. Lizzie tenses and he looks at them with something that's almost guilt. Almost. "I cloaked myself and stabbed her from behind. She never got to finish her vows, though I'm sure your dad would have been touched by them."

That constricting in Lizzie's chest is back, and she can't breathe. A bookcase falls over behind her. She can't even see him standing in front of her now, just a blurry silhouette of shades as her eyes sting and burn. Though, there may be a shard of glass in her eyes for all she knows.

This can't be happening. He already said it, she knows that, but it can't be real.

A quiet gasp tears from Josie's throat beside her, and when Lizzie glances at her, she finds her entire body shaking. She tried to swallow down the lump in her throat, but it's closed up, and she's sure she's going to throw up. There's a loud snap from above them. The chandelier finally comes loose, its swaying more violent now, unpredictable as the entire house seems to push and pull, tearing itself apart. 

"Sorry," Kai says, that switch suddenly flipping again as he looks up. "That was insensitive. I didn't mean..."

"Your family was right," Josie grits out through her teeth, ignoring the increasing danger around them. Lizzie's heart twists and shatters at the pain in her voice as tears slip from her eyes even as she stares at him. "You are a monster."

Kai shakes his head, his mouth opening and closing, but Lizzie watches his eyes blaze. There was already a fire burning inside of him, all of the built-up anger from the last forty-six years of his entire life. But Josie's just stoked it by throwing herself in.

"I'm not," he says, his voice low but still carrying across the hurricane of magic. "My family made me this way. You know that. I told you what they were like — you called _them_ monsters! They're the ones who called me an abomination my entire life and made me think I was broken!"

"And that's how you justify murdering all of those people?" Kaleb questions, shaking his head in disgust. "All of your siblings? Your entire coven?"

"Your own twin sister," Lizzie adds, looking at him with revulsion.

His eyes dart between them all as there's another crash from behind them, but none of them pay it any mind. It's clear by his expression he knows he's slipped up, took the wrong path to convince them that he's not really the monster they think he is. He shakes his head, his anger quickly dissolving into something close to desperation. Pleading.

"No, I know, there was no excuse," he says, and for a moment, Lizzie actually thinks he's being somewhat sincere. But she thinks that has more to do with the ceiling starting to give way. "It was horrible. But I'm not that person anymore. I promise you — I've changed. Really."

Lizzie doesn't believe him — that he believes he's no longer that person, she buys, but she doesn't believe that it's true. Not when all she can hear is him saying he's the reason their biological mother is dead. 

Lizzie looks away from him as a beam collapses from the ceiling, tearing in half and swinging down. Her heart leaps another beat, and she isn't even sure who's doing it anymore. Stefanie's collapsed into Kaleb's side, unsteady and weak, the trickle of blood from her nose now worse. Josie's still flaming beside her, her eyes dark and narrowed.

"Just tell me one thing," Josie says, looking back over at Kai. "You knew us when we were four. I don't care what happened for you to be able to be around us at that point; I'm sure I don't want to know the details. But just tell me: did you ever actually care about us? When we were four? The exact same age that Liv and Luke were when you attempted to murder them?"

Lizzie glances at her uncertainly, but she looks back over at Kai in question, wanting to know the answer as well. It's the one thing that's been playing on Lizzie's mind since he started confessing. Their parents would never have allowed him near them, not after everything he did. 

His face falls, and she's sure she already has her answer from that alone. Still, she waits expectantly, knowing that the magic that's crumbling the house around them probably won't hurt her, simply watching him squirm and panic.

"I wanted to care about you," he answers honestly, looking at both of them. "I'm not sure if that was just because of Luke, but I did. I thought that you two died when I stabbed Jo, so, finding out that you were actually alive...I came to see you. But..." 

He trails off, swallowing. Lizzie hates it. She can see it in his eyes, real, genuine shame and guilt. None of it is coming from him though, she now knows, and she hates it, because she can feel the end of the sentence coming just as she can feel the tug and pull of magic that rips down another beam behind Kai and cracks the floorboards until they're all splintering, threatening to collapse completely.

"I didn't want to compete for leader of the coven," he finishes, barely able to look either of them in the eye. "Not again. I had done it my entire life already, and I just — I couldn't stand the thought of finally getting it back just to have it taken away from me by four-year-olds."

"You tried to kill us?" Josie asks breathlessly, her voice small and hurt far beyond Lizzie has ever heard it. 

"Yes," Kai says, and looks at them. "That's why I thought you would know who I am when you came here. You were visiting using the projection spell, so I assumed that maybe you were watching me. Wanted to see how the man who tried to kill you when you were four was suffering."

"I wish we had known," Lizzie hisses, any other possible emotion that tries to break through only being turned into unwavering anger as she only adds to the growing power in the air. "We would never have come here. You don't deserve to be free. You deserve to rot in here, alone, for the rest of eternity."

Kai's shaking his head again, his mouth opening to blurt out some other excuse. Probably another string of "I'm different now" or "I'm not proud of it" or some other lie. 

"Josie, Lizzie, I'm—" he starts, at long last trying to step towards them, his hands still held out in front of them. 

The next moment, a loud snap echoes through the room. Kai collapses to the ground, his head twisted at an angle. Broken. Kaleb stands just behind where he had been, a little to his right. He eyes his body with disdain, anger of his own flashing in his eyes. What just happens quickly dawns on Lizzie, and a pang of relief hits her square in the chest full force. 

She breathes out, her entire body moving with the action. Josie doesn't move at all. She's still frozen to the spot, though her grip remains tight on Lizzie. Lizzie doesn't mind. It might just be the only thing keeping her anchored to reality right now as her head is spinning and she's sure she's about a second away from passing out.

Kaleb lifts his eyes to look at the three of them, and Lizzie notices that there are shards of glass caught in his hair and a small cut running along his left cheek. She wonders just how much of a mess they all look.

"Never done that before," he admits. "Weirdly satisfying."

Even as he says it, though, Lizzie can hear the slight shake in his voice. Fear and worry that maybe he did it wrong and Kai's about to pop back up any second now. They go to pause for a moment longer, just for good measure, but the house gives another thunderous shake beneath and all around them. 

The chandelier finally snaps and hits the ground in the centre of the room, just a few feet from Kaleb. It crushes the floorboards, starting off a chain reaction. They all crack and groan, and it actually starts to sink in on itself at long last. More and more beams tear apart, and the ceiling looks seconds away from caving in. 

"Let's get the hell out of here," Stefanie says at last, her voice quiet and weak.

They all agree. Kaleb searches Kai and swipes the ascendant from him before moving back over to assist Stefanie. They hurry to leave the room, and this world, staying close together as they race through the house that comes crashing down, just hoping that they haven't missed their window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The big reveal! At long last! Also, guys, I watched the new episode of Legacies earlier and oh my god. So, clearly I was off with the whole Alaric lying to them about the ascendant thing, but just think of this as an alternate version of what could have happened had he been a total idiot! I am actually extremely relieved that he just told them the truth, no lies. But anyway, please, tell me your thoughts on this chapter! Are you enjoying it so far? ❤


	20. Twelve years is a long time

It's completely dark when they rush out of the house, an almost startling contrast to the bright lights that had been on in nearly every room of the house, and they forgot that it has to be close to nine now. Lizzie would check her phone to confirm, but when she tried back in the house, just to see if maybe it wouldn't glitch this time, it died.

None of them even dare to look back, no matter how forceful the tug in Lizzie's chest. She keeps marching on, practically running through the grounds, down the driveway, and out the twenty-foot wrought-iron gates. There's a coldness clawing at her from the inside, slowly creeping up her shoulder. Like they're being watched. 

She tries not to. But once they're in the relative safety of the woods, out of sight from the house, it only clings to her. She risks a quick glance behind them, her heart skipping a beat. As soon as she does, the feeling vanishes. 

Something brushes her arm and she nearly jumps out of her skin. It's just Kaleb, though, taking her arm to get her attention. He nods his head toward the rest of the group ahead of them and she realizes she's slowed down. 

Telling herself she's just being silly, she picks her pace back up, Kaleb doing the same. He doesn't let go of her arm, and she's admittedly — even if privately — glad. It stops her from slowing back down again, and it's a strange sort of comfort. He was the one who snapped Kai's neck after all when he tried to move towards her and Josie. It makes her feel that little bit safer, even if not by much. 

"You got glass in your hair, you know," he tells her quietly. 

"I think we all have glass everywhere," Lizzie counters, eyeing the cut on his cheek pointedly, but she reaches up to her hair, feeling around for any shards. The last thing she needs is for any of them to have embedded themselves in her scalp.

"Here," Kaleb says softly, moving her hand away. 

He does it himself, still walking as he carefully picks a shard from a strand of her hair. She doesn't protest, though winces when he goes to remove another higher up. It's stuck into her forehead, she realizes, just a small piece, but it still stings. Kaleb gently pulls at it again, grimacing along with her before it comes free. 

"Sorry," he murmurs, eyeing the piece of glass between his fingers. The tip of it has a slight coating of blood. Her blood.

She glances at him, but his eyes don't even shift. She's bleeding all over, she's sure, and he's right at her side, but he shows no signs of a desire to feed on her. He tosses the shard of glass aside without so much as a second glance.

They catch back up with the rest of their friends and none of them breaks stride again. The feeling returns; like a pair of eyes burning holes in her back, watching their every move, every twist and turn through the trees that they take. She just brushes it off, pushing it all the way down and letting the pit in her stomach deal with it. 

"Where is it again?" Stefanie calls back to her, her head turning left to right as she continues walking aimlessly. She's still weak and unsteady, but she somehow manages to stay upright and alert anyway.

"Uh," Lizzie hurries to pull the scrunched up piece of paper from her pocket, crinkling as she unfolds it and ignores how her hands sting, reading over the message that she's sure she's already memorized by now. "Town square. There's some bar down the street that was where the original spell to create this place was cast, apparently."

"Well, it's either the Grill or the only other bar in the entire town."

"Let's go with the other one," Lizzie decides. Otherwise, her mom would have been sure to put the Grill considering her uncle Damon owns it. And the only other bar in town is, thankfully, only a street away from it. Exactly where her mom said it would be.

They continue on in silence, Stefanie leading the way into town, Josie a few steps behind her, and Lizzie and Kaleb barely three behind the both of them. Lizzie can't help but keep throwing glances at Josie, her worry growing with every moment of silence. She's covered in cuts and littered with glass just as much as she is, but it's the blank look in her eyes that's getting to her.

Lizzie doesn't say anything either, though. And thankfully, it doesn't take long for them to put as much distance between themselves and the house as possible. 

They walk into the town square, their collective paces faltering and slowing. It's just as lit up as it was back home; lights strung up high above them, the light from inside the clock tower making it look a little less eery. The moon is sitting in the sky without a care, situated perfectly overheard, bright and the shape of the crescent marks her nails leave in her palms.

"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for here?" Kaleb asks, squinting up at the sky as well. 

"We're not," Lizzie says as she goes over the instructions once more. "It's some Mercury aligning thing. You're not supposed to be able to see it, that's the point, or else Kai would have been able to figure it out on his own. Alright, someone check the time, that stupid clock has stopped working again. We need to be ready for six minutes past nine."

"That's weirdly specific," Stefanie says, but pulls her phone out all the same. "It's three minutes past."

Lizzie's stomach drops. She nods, maybe a little too vigorously because it makes her a little dizzy, and she's really hoping that there are no other pieces of glass stuck in her head. 

"Three minutes. Okay. Good, that's good." She turns to Kaleb, motioning to herself. "Give me the ascendant."

He slips it from the inside pocket of his jacket and presses it into her waiting hands. She swallows, pressing her lips together, and readjusts the note between her fingers as she forces herself to draw in a breath. 

"Okay. Josie?"

She lifts her eyes to her. It takes Josie a moment to realize she's even spoken to her, and even at that, Stefanie has to jab a light elbow into her side to get her attention, careful to avoid any injured areas. Josie looks up at her and nods distantly, moving over to stand in front of her. 

"Alright," Lizzie says, blowing air back out as she glances from Kaleb to Stefanie. "One of you have to use your blood on this thing. Apparently, that's a requirement we didn't even know about."

"Considering only one of us can heal, I think it's only fair that you do it," Stefanie says to Kaleb, raising her eyebrows at him. He arches one back in silent argument, and she holds a hand out. "Besides, I was the one who did it to get us here. My finger still hurts."

"Who's to say it's even gonna work with mine?" Kaleb asks, turning his eyes on Lizzie. "I'm a vampire. Shouldn't it be a Bennett _witch_? I don't exactly have witch blood in me anymore."

Stefanie scoffs and rolls her eyes, but the urgency in the air is quickly building and Lizzie doesn't feel like having to wait until tomorrow to go home. She's seen enough vampires get their necks snapped to know that it only takes them out for a few hours. If they're lucky, and by _they_, she means the four of them. Any less than that and they're royally screwed. 

"One of you just bleed on the damn thing, _please_."

They share a quick look, but thankfully, Stefanie sighs and gives in. Lizzie faintly thinks that's probably for the best. If Kaleb turned out to be right and the spell didn't work simply because of a technicality, they would miss their chance. Better not to take the risk. Stefanie's blood got them here, it's best to trust it to get them back home as well. 

"I don't have anything sharp on me—"

With a flick of her finger, Lizzie cuts a shallow line across Stefanie's index finger, reopening the tiny wound that the ascendant had created a few hours ago. She hisses, staring down at in shock. 

"Would a little warning kill you?" she asks sarcastically, shooting Lizzie a glare. Lizzie doesn't point out that, right now, waiting to tell her of her every movement could indeed kill her, as well as the rest of them. 

Stefanie steps forward despite her irritation, holding her hand out over the ascendant with caution. She squeezes her finger lightly, turning it, and a drop of blood slides down from the little cut. It lands perfectly in the middle of the shining metal. 

"Okay," Lizzie repeats, her heart pushing against her chest with every beat, feeling as if it's trying to use just enough force to burst free. She'd like to do the same with the prison world. "Now for the spell."

Josie only pauses for a moment as Stefanie offers a hand to her. A faint red glow lifts up from the surface of her skin when she accepts. Lizzie does the same when Kaleb raises an eyebrow at her and gingerly offers her his own hand once more, allowing her to draw on the magic that courses through his blood, making up his entire being.

Then, Josie slips her hands underneath Lizzie's, and they both focus their attention on one thing. Ignoring the twisting in her stomach and swallowing the dryness in her mouth, Lizzie tilts her head up a little, and together, they begin the spell. 

They repeat the incantation over and over again, the words becoming faster with every second that ticks by. The urgency in the air is stifling, and Lizzie is almost convinced the wind around them picks up. It whips around them like a storm despite there not being even a hint of a breeze, just like back at the house.

She's aware of Kaleb and Stefanie both edging closer to them, just to be sure that they don't get left behind.

It's nearly done. Lizzie can feel it as hers and Josie's voices blend into one, rising, the spell no longer decipherable as her mind clouds. The ascendant gives that same loud, sharp click. 

"_Sangina Mearma, Ascendarum Cavea!_" they shout together, the magic coursing through their entire bodies, lifting every hair on their skin as it rushes through their arms, down to the tips of their fingers, and into the night air that's already teeming with it. 

There's a sharp tug in Lizzie's chest. She brushes it off, her head tipping back as the incantation continues to flow from her lips. It doesn't budge, though. It's insistent, pulling at her insides, trying to tug her this way and that as if to force her to pay attention. The second she does, letting her eyes open, she feels it. The warning bell goes off in the back of her head. 

In the split second it takes for her to realize why, Kai's right in front of her. Her eyes widen. She's not the only one to notice either, the rest of them all startling along with her. 

Lizzie and Josie both try to stop the spell. But it's too late; the ascendant's moving in their hands, clicking away as it shifts and twists into place. There's no stopping it, not now. 

Before Lizzie can register what's happening, Kai's hands are moving in a blur. A loud snap echoes through the silence of the square, and something shatters inside of her before she even knows what's happened. Kaleb goes limp beside her.

"NO!" three of them shout, but their cries get swallowed up by the beam of light that shoots into the sky.

The last thing Lizzie sees is the glimpse of Kai's triumphant smirk as she tries to pull against the magic of the ascendant. Then the light engulfs the five of them, and everything disappears. 

* * *

Waiting around for a reply to the magical message they sent to the prison world is daunting, and exhausting. They don't even have a way to tell if it actually got through, if Lizzie received it, if she was able to read it. Or even worse, if Kai found out and now they've just gone and put the four of them in an even more dangerous situation.

Caroline drops her head into her hands. She can't think like that. It's only been half an hour since they sent it. Or twenty-eight minutes. With nothing else to distract herself, it's been rather easy to count them. It's almost calming. 

Or would be, anyway, if she was in any other position. Being helpless to do anything and not knowing a single thing that's going on have never been things that she's been able to handle calmly. If anything, they only fuel the fire of stress and anxiety as she hasn't a single thing to keep her busy and her head organized. 

Even trying to figure out why Damon and Alaric immediately look away with an icy look every time they happen to lock eyes from across the room hasn't been a good enough distraction. Though, it's certainly going to be at the top of things she's questioning once this is all over.

She's mostly just half-listening in on the small but intense argument Alaric's having with Kol, who returned not long ago, he, Davina, and Freya all empty-handed. It started with something about him finally asking more about how they can break the curse on the Gemini Coven.

From there, it quickly escalated into Kol saying something about how it's no wonder he lost his job as headmaster at a school for the supernatural when he underestimates witches abilities so severely. 

Caroline wanted to step in. Really, she did — she still does. Alaric's retorting with some comment about Kol not even being a witch and how he's one to talk about protecting kids when he tried to kill Jeremy, and she's sure she should stop the two of them before it gets worse and they reenact that past that they're so keen on bringing up and start trying to kill each other.

But her head is pounding again, mostly from the crying that hasn't quite stopped. Her eyes are still stinging, and the guilt is still clawing at her from the inside. She knows she deserves it, though. Lizzie and Josie were counting on her as their mother.

Lying may have been Alaric's decision, and she went along with it because he said it was what Jo would have wanted, and how could she argue with that? But it was still her fault as well for not pushing back, or trying harder to convince him, or for paying more attention.

"Will the two of you stop?" Davina's exasperated voice cuts through Alaric's and Kol's. "You tried to kill each other. You used to hate each other. We get it. But can we please focus?"

Caroline decides that Davina is officially one of her favourite people.

"Focus on what exactly?" Kol asks. "Because, if you haven't noticed, love, the thing that we came here to do isn't happening. I agreed to help, but there's nothing we can do if they don't come back from that other world place."

Caroline's head snaps up, looking over at him.

"They'll come back," Alaric quickly says, with possibly a touch too much aggression. "We just...we have to wait."

Kol rolls his eyes, but the convinced tone of Alaric's voice disguising his worry seems to have him backing down. His expression shifts just a little, and he takes a step back to Davina's side, not saying anything else. 

"It's seven minutes past nine," Bonnie says quietly, looking away from the clock on the wall. 

Caroline follows her line of sight to it anyway. Sure enough, the little hand has ticked onto the marker between six and eight, and the even smaller one is still ticking away, making sure they're aware of every second that passes. As if Caroline doesn't have a built-in clock in her head and has been tracking every moment since they landed back in Mystic Falls. A minute past the time of the celestial event. 

"They should have gotten out," she says softly, her eyes staying fixed on the clock. Her heart's beating in time with that thin hand. 

"They had to do the spell in town, right?" Alaric asks, his eyes widening with hope. "So, they'll probably come out there. That's usually how it works, right?"

His voice is desperate as he seeks confirmation from Bonnie and Valerie. Desperate to be right about this, for the plan to have worked, for the kids to be safe and back home in the middle of town already. It's just enough for that little spark of hope lingering in her own chest to grow, quickly consuming her insides as Bonnie nods. 

"If something hasn't gone wrong, then yeah, they should."

"Let's go then," Damon finally speaks up, standing from his chair and clearly unsure of why the hell they aren't already out of the door. "What are we waiting for?"

"Some of us should stay here," Caroline quickly says. "Just in case they take a different path and come back here."

"Alright, fine," Damon says. "Bonnie, myself, Enzo, and you will go into town to find them, and the rest can stay here. Sound good?"

"No, no way," Alaric says right away, shaking his head. "I'm going down there."

"It's fine, love," Enzo tells Damon gently, nodding to assure him when Damon looks down at him uncertainly, and places a hand on his arm. "I'll stay here, just in case. The four of you go."

But Caroline waves a hand around them pointedly, saying, "Ric, the school. One of us needs to stay here. We can't just ask Dorian to look after it. One of us needs to be here." 

He shakes his head and his voice lowers as he steps towards her.

"Caroline, I cannot stay here while all of you go out there looking for them. This is exactly like it was thirteen years ago, when Seline took them. I am going out of my mind, Caroline, and I — I need to find them."

His voice is tight and strained, and one sharp edge away from bursting the thin bubble containing his anger. For a moment, she's back in the exit parking lot of an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere, every one of her thoughts occupied with fears of what Seline is going to do to the twins. 

And there's Alaric, right in front of her. His words stabbing into her heart and twisting more painfully with each one. She's sure it would have been less painful if he had simply shoved a stake into her heart than to force her to listen to his cruel accusations and harsh threat to take the twins as far away from her as possible. 

Then, she blinks and she's back. Though nothing really changes except they're not alone, and she's still waiting in fear for him to make the same threat all over again. Throw another accusation of it being because of her in her face. He's not that same man, she knows, but still, she can't shake it.

"I know, Ric," she says slowly, deciding not to give him the chance. She reaches out, her hands settling on his arms as she looks him in the eyes. "I hate this. I hate feeling like this again — like there's nothing we can do to help our own kids. But, this isn't the same. They're going to be okay. We weren't even the ones who found them last time, and they were still alright."

She had been hoping her last point would convince him, lighten things at least a little. But his expression stays the same; lined with worry and anxiety, and completely against listening to a thing she says.

"I need to go, Caroline," he insists, shaking his head. "They're out there somewhere, and we — they wouldn't have even gone to the prison world if we had just talked to them about it all. If I hadn't hidden the ascendant in my_ office_, or even—"

"Hey, no, not right now," she says sharply, her fingers tightening the slightest bit on his arms, because it's the only thing stopping her from spiralling right back down herself aside from the knowledge that Lizzie and Josie need her level-headed. "Yes, we should have told them the truth, but there is nothing we can do about it now other than finding them and making sure that they are okay."

"Which is why I can't stay here while you do that," he replies with conviction. "Caroline, I know that we—"

"It's fine, you guys go," Davina quickly cuts in, stepping forward. She looks around. "We'll be here, and I'm good at running things. I was the leader of a coven for a while, so I think I can handle a school. Can't be that different, right?"

Caroline falters. She should protest because, really, it's a bit different. More people for one. At least, she thinks so anyway. And it really should be either her or Alaric who stays; the kids know and trust them. Mostly. 

But she glances at Alaric, and he makes a shrugging gesture as if to say they don't really have much of another choice. It's either accept her offer or insist that one of them stays behind. She can't bring herself to do that, and she's got a feeling Alaric isn't going to be persuaded either.

"Okay," she breathes out and presses on before she can change her mind. "But, if anything happens, talk to Dorian. He knows what he's doing. And—"

"If a group of four kids show up here looking like they've just escaped the clutches of a mad-man, we will call you," Kol cuts her off. He gives a reassuring nod of his own, towards the door. "Now, go. They might already be on their way."

Caroline nods back. She hopes that her expression conveys how grateful she is before she turns to Alaric. Damon makes an urgent gesture with his hands, his patience clearly wearing thin. 

The five of them then hurry out of the house — Damon just looks at Enzo and he's on his feet in a heartbeat, joining him and Bonnie just a few steps behind them. Caroline forces herself to breathe, in and out, slow and steady, walking down the driveway. It takes everything in her not to vamp there, and she can tell that Enzo's having to refrain from it as well. 

They're going to be there. Halfway down the path into town, they're going to run right into them, and everything is going to be fine. She tells herself that over and over again with every step that they take, her heart beating in agreement with every hard footfall that echoes into the otherwise silent night. 

It only takes another five steps though for her to be proven right. At least on one part. 

A bright light opens up in front of them as if from nowhere. All of them falter, coming to a halt as it grows brighter. For a split second, Caroline remembers all those stories about UFO's and their bright lights of abduction. She's quick to shake it off, reality settling back in. 

But once it does, she thinks she'd much rather it was a UFO come to visit Mystic Falls and take a few of them away for a nice trip to Mars. Maybe Jupiter. Anywhere has to be a nice vacation at this point. 

They all stare at it, the wariness radiating off of them and into the air, swirling around them, tugging and pulling. Caroline squints into it. She's almost certain that she can make out something inside of it; dark shapes, like silhouettes. Her heart jumps too many beats.

The light quickly disperses almost as suddenly as it appeared no less than ten feet in front of them. It takes her eyes a moment to readjust, a few blinks for the large beam of light to disappear from her vision and be able to see through the darkness. She doesn't have the chance for the realization to properly sink in, though.

A cry — more than one — cuts through the silence like a sharp knife, the first half seeming to have been caught up in the way over.

The air is punched out of Caroline's lungs at the sound. She's finally able to focus on the four people standing in front of her, and her eyes move down to something by their feet. Her stomach drops, not giving herself the chance to fully register what she's seeing.

They all rush forward. Caroline and Enzo both move in a blur. They reach them before a breath can even be drawn. She's faintly aware of the doors to the school opening again behind them, hurried footsteps racing out to see what's going on. 

It takes Caroline a moment to notice the panic on the three faces she takes in, glancing over the cuts and blood and shards of glass that stick to them. She swivels around, following Josie and Lizzie's line of sight. 

"Caroline," Kai greets with that familiar smirk, his eyes widening. "You look surprised. Or murderous? I can never tell the difference; it's always the same reaction when people see me, honestly, they're both the same at this point."

Caroline immediately moves in front of Lizzie, Josie, and Stefanie. Her eyes dart down and she notices Kaleb at last. A broken neck and out cold. Her heart leaps into her throat and she forces her eyes back up to Kai.

"I can't even begin to explain how much I've been looking forward to this," he says, his eyes darting over her shoulder as the rest of them approach them. His smirk only widens. "Twelve years is a long time. How about a catch-up? I can't wait to hear all about what you've been up to...Mrs Salvatore."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is slightly shorter, and I might actually consider uploading the next one tonight as well if anyone wants that? I feel bad that it's a shorter one, but it has to be for the sake of the tension. Speaking of: thought on how well this can end? Please, I would love to hear all of them! ❤


	21. Because I have to believe there's something left in him

Caroline glares at Kai. She doesn't move a muscle, her arm still thrown out protectively in front of the twins and Stefanie. The rest of them have reached them now and spotted Kai as well. She can feel the mixture of emotions that arise around them, but the main one sticks in her throat: burning anger. Pure hatred for the man standing in front of them, inches away from their own kids. 

"Kai," Bonnie breathes out, seething. "You bastard."

"Bonnie," Kai greets her back with a far more cheerful tone, though cold and hiding a similar level of malice and hatred now than it once did before. "It's been a while. I hear you have kids now. With Damon, of all people."

His eyes shift to Damon a second later, simply raising his eyebrows in response to the glare Damon is piercing him with. If he notices that everyone's on the verge of ripping him apart, he doesn't care. Either that, or he has some sort of plan and knows that they're not going to get the chance. Like always. 

Bonnie eyes Kaleb, her expression breaking for a second to let the worry slip through. She presses her lips together tightly, and Caroline can tell she wants to go to him, but her eyes are also flicking to Stefanie, Lizzie, and Josie. Any sudden move could result in anything when it comes to Kai. 

"Oh, yeah," Kai's followed her line of sight, his head tilting slightly as he points down at Kaleb. "Just a little bit of payback. He sort of snapped my neck, so it's only fair, right?"

"How about I tear your head off again?" Damon suggests, already stepping towards him. 

"Oh, that's an awful big threat for someone who's human now," Kai says, quickly stopping Damon in his tracks. He looks around at them, raising his eyebrows. "I mean, that's what happened, right? I have no idea how, but it's the only way that you could possibly have any sort of offspring. Speaking of—"

He turns suddenly, facing Caroline once more as his eyes go to Stefanie. She spreads her arm wider, catching the edge of Stefanie's shoulder and giving her a gentle push further behind her without even thinking.

At the same time, Bonnie steps up beside her. Stefanie rushes to her, and Bonnie keeps her behind her. By the looks of it, even Enzo's not far off from making good on Damon's threat, and Alaric has been there for a while already.

"Woah, calm down there," Kai chuckles, uncaring as he holds his hands out face-up. "It's like you guys don't trust me or something. I got them back here alive, didn't I? I don't know about you, but I don't see a single scratch on any one of them — you know, you guys are really disappointing me right now. It's been twelve years, and you still don't believe I'm capable of changing."

"Because you're a psychopath," Alaric scoffs, his eyes flicking over him. "You really think we're going to trust you? After everything you've done? I'm going to ki—"

"Hey, woah there," Kai gives another chuckle, holding his hands up as he takes a quick step back. He raises his eyebrows at him, and his mouth twists up further. "I can assure you, you don't wanna do that."

Alaric falters, though his expression remains hard. Caroline can't help but faintly wonder if that means she was right; he has something planned, or he's already done something. Why else would he be acting so cocky?

"I may have been locked up for twelve years, but I'm still pretty good with the whole magic thing. And with just one little—"

He snaps his fingers. Caroline's stomach drops, and everyone freezes, waiting for it. Whatever new, sick, twisted scheme for revenge he's been cooking up for the past thirteen years. Except, nothing happens. 

Kai laughs — he actually has the nerve to laugh, out loud, amused — and lowers his hands to point at them. 

"Oh, your faces," he says as if it's the funniest thing in the world, shaking his head. "Priceless. I've really missed this."

"What do you want, Kai?" Caroline grits out through her teeth, turning his eyes to her. "If you think we're just going to let you go, you're as crazy as you've always been. You should have just stayed in the prison world."

"But then I would have missed this little reunion," he replies. "And, you guys have to admit, it wouldn't be quite the same without me, now would it?"

"You are not getting out of this, Kai," Alaric promises, ignoring him. "I was fine to leave you in that prison world, but you've just signed your own death sentence. So, quit stalling and let's just get this over with. It'll be better for everyone."

He goes to move forward again, and Caroline's eyes widen, wanting to stop him. She's pretty sure that they outnumber him nine-to-one, and yet, his threat has her unsettled and on edge. It's Kai, after all. She's learned the hard way not to underestimate what he can do. They all have. 

"Including them?" Kai asks pointedly. 

Alaric stops once again as Kai's eyes swivel right back to Josie and Lizzie, still half-hidden away behind Caroline. 

"I mean, I'm not telling you how to be a parent, obviously, since I've never really been one, but," he waves a hand towards them and Caroline tenses instinctively, "I'm pretty sure that killing someone in front of your kids is one of those things that screw them up for the rest of their lives. Especially when that person _is_ their uncle."

"You are nothing to them," Alaric spits without missing a beat. "You are the man who murdered their biological mother. Who tried to kill them when they were _four-years-old_." He shakes his head, disgust in his eyes. "You will never be their uncle, nor will you be a part of their lives. Ever."

"He's stalling us," Damon says without taking his eyes off of Kai. "Let's just kill him."

Almost everyone chimes in their agreement, Bonnie included, and Caroline really isn't opposed to it. Kai even looks fearful for a moment, his confident act slipping as he seems to realize that they're serious. The fact that he would think otherwise is bizarre to her. 

A unanimous decision made, Alaric reaches into the inside pocket of his jacket, turning a gun on him faster than should have been possible, really. Caroline eyes it and recognizes it as one of the last that he owns and takes wooden bullets. 

Kai doesn't quite startle at the sight, but he certainly reacts. He arches an eyebrow at it in question, the other quickly following. Even Bonnie's beginning to pull on her magic, her hands raised in front of her with a spell clearly waiting at the ready on the tip of her tongue. 

They might just have a shot at finally ridding themselves of him forever. If Alaric's aim is still as good as it used to be. If Bonnie's fast enough with the incantation. If Enzo's fast enough to rip his heart out or snap his neck. If Damon can get the jump on him with the stake that she knows he's got clutched in his right hand behind his back. _If_.

Somehow, even with so many threats bearing down on him at once, Kai doesn't seem fazed. The initial surprise at them jumping straight to it so quickly was clear for a brief moment, but it's been replaced by total calmness. His smirk is still settled on his lips, playing at the corners as if this is a game to him. 

Of course it is, she thinks. Everything is a game to him. 

"Stop," Josie's voice cuts through the tense silence the second that Alaric starts to move. "Please — stop."

Everyone does. All eyes turn on her as she steps out from behind Caroline. She wants to pull her back, her eyes flicking to Kai in panic, but Josie only moves a step or two away. And she's sure that if need be, she's far faster than Kai. 

"Josie," Alaric says slowly but with an edge of urgency. "You don't understand. And we'll explain it all to you—" he shifts his eyes to Lizzie for a moment, "—both of you. Just, once this is over. So, please, just go ins—"

"No, we're not going to go inside," Josie says with a shake of her head, her voice firm. "And you're not going to kill him."

* * *

All eyes are on her, and Josie would be having a mild panic attack about that in any other situation. Especially since she happens to glance behind her uncle Damon and her dad and is met with four unfamiliar faces hanging back, clearly at the ready in case something goes wrong.

Her head is spinning just a little, but she knows what she has to do. Everyone is positioned to kill Kai without a second thought, and she can't help it. She had to do something.

Lizzie shoots her an incredulous look, practically gaping at her. Josie can't say she entirely blames her either; if the roles were reversed, she would absolutely be looking at her in the same way and trying to convince her to change her mind.

She just brushes it off, deciding that she can handle Lizzie's anger. But this? She can't just stand by and watch.

"Josie," her mom tries now, wide-eyed and so obviously fearful of the man in front of them, but she keeps her gaze focused on her as she talks. "I know that you have a big heart, and I love that about you. But, this is different."

"Are we seriously waiting for Sabrina the Teenage Witch to give us the all-go on this?" her uncle Damon asks in disbelief, gesturing to Kai with furrowed eyebrows. "He's right _there_! It would literally take two seconds to rip his damn heart out once and for all."

"Good to see that you haven't changed a bit," Kai says, beaming at him with complete sincerity. "I was worried that fatherhood and humanity had softened you, but no, you've still got that taste for murder. Good on you, Damon."

Josie's mom shoots a glare at her uncle Damon, ignoring Kai. None of them are surprised by the revelation of his history, it seems when she glances over at Lizzie and Stefanie, all of them already knowing the gruesome details. Everyone in Mystic Falls probably does.

"Josie, please," her mom says again, shaking her head with a small sigh of frustration. "You don't know the full story. You want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but he doesn't deserve it. Just...please, let us do what we have to."

"You don't have to," she says, a bitter edge sliding its way through. "Tell us everything, I mean. Kai already did that."

Her mom falters, and when she looks at her dad, he's gone just as still, startled. 

"Yeah, I was sort of surprised to find out just how little they actually know," Kai pipes back up, much to everyone's obvious displeasure. Still, he presses on, unfazed as he draws his eyebrows together. "It's one thing not to tell them what a Heretic is but I at least thought you would have mentioned me. You know, to keep them away from me? Scare them away from ever looking for me?"

"We were sort of hoping not to traumatize our kids by telling them the horror story that is their biological family's history," her dad says roughly, though his eyes barely stop darting between Josie and Lizzie to glare at him.

"Well that certainly worked out well," Kai says, sarcasm dripping from his voice despite the overly-cheery note still lingering. 

"Be quiet," her aunt Bonnie snaps at him.

Her hands are still raised out in front of her, and Josie can tell that she's just barely holding herself back from killing him like they all so clearly want to do. Stefanie's hand on the inside of her elbow might have something to do with that, holding her arm back just the slightest bit.

There's a hatred burning across every single one of their faces stronger than she thinks she's ever seen on any of them before. Even her mom and dad. And she understands that, she does. But when she glances at Kai, her mind is immediately drawn back to the conversation they had in the prison world. His reassurances about the merge, his willingness to help her stop it from happening. For a minute, she actually believed she had an uncle. It felt like he cared.

"There has to be another way," she insists, looking between her parents and avoiding the stares of everyone else. "You always said that you regretted the people you hurt in the past."

Her mom's eyes darken at the reminder. Growing up, she and Lizzie had heard about pieces of the past, even if only snippets of it. They heard about the first person she killed. When she flipped her switch. The entire coven of witches that she had to kill in order to save their aunt Bonnie's life. 

They may not know everything about their family or their past in Mystic Falls, but there have been a few things over the years. By the look on her dad's face, she's got a feeling that all of the times he tried to kill Uncle Damon hasn't been forgotten in his mind. Especially the ones where he succeeded. Or how their mom's dad died. 

Even her aunt Bonnie's and uncle Damon's expressions turn to grimaces as their own flashes of memories seem to briefly take over. None of them are innocent, she knows, even if she doesn't really know the extent to it all. She just knows that she's getting somewhere and if she can just keep tugging on this thread...

"Those were different," her mom tries to argue, but her voice is quiet, even if sincere. "Josie, Kai isn't like them. If...if you know everything, then you know that. He doesn't deserve the second chance that you want to give him."

"And I'm sure as hell not going to let him have it," Uncle Damon says, his eyes still glued to Kai as if not trusting him not to move. "One way or another, he dies. Whether I have your approval or not."

The last part is aimed at Josie, she knows, because his tone softens, sounding regretful of having to do anything that would upset her. The loathing fury that lies in his voice for all of them to hear overpowers everything else. 

As if already agreed upon, Stefanie's pops — her own uncle Enzo, she reminds herself — moves in a blur. He's behind Kai in a second, securing Kai's arms tightly behind his back, holding him still. Kai struggles for just a moment, trying to shake him off, but he just tightens his grip. 

Josie's heart pounds in her ears as she stares at them. Kai has no chance of getting free. They're all surrounding him, and even with vampire speed on his side, he's up against two people with the exact same abilities who are years older than him, at least in terms of being a vampire. 

That's not even mentioning her dad's aim and her aunt Bonnie's magic, and whatever her uncle Damon clearly has hidden up his sleeve. Literally. She watches the stake slip out, his fingers wrapping around it and gripping it until his knuckles turn a bright shade of white. His jaw clenches as he glances at Uncle Enzo. The two of them share a look and a nod. 

Then Uncle Damon's moving forward, his hand with the stake raising as his mouth starts to twist. Her dad raises his gun at the exact same time, just in case. Josie's stomach drops. 

"Wait, please!" she shouts when the stake presses into Kai's shirt, an inch away from ripping into his chest. 

Uncle Damon stops. He closes his eyes, a muscle in his jaw twitching, but he _stops_, keeping his hand steady.

"Josie, what are you doing?" Lizzie hisses at her, finally stepping away from their mom and towards her. "Just let them do it."

"I can't," Josie says, shaking her head. Her eyebrows furrow. "And you shouldn't be able to either. Lizzie, he's our uncle."

"No, they are our uncles. He's a murderer," Lizzie counters without missing a beat, emphasizing on the last word. 

Josie tries to push down the rising nausea in her stomach as his confession replays in her head. A murderer. Lizzie's right. She knows that she is — Kai told them as much to their faces.

She looks over at him, faltering. Maybe she was too hasty to defend him. He was the one who killed Jo. The one who took away their chance to grow up with her and even the rest of the coven, as certain as Josie is that she and Lizzie are better off for not knowing them.

He meets her eyes. With the worst possible timing, it's as if that switch flips back on. The twisted, uncaring look he had been using on her parent's dissolves into the one that she saw in the prison world. Fear flickers in the depths of his eyes, but it's the sad understanding that shines through the most to her. 

Her heart twists as he takes in a shaky breath but smiles at her. "I'm sorry," he says, his eyes darting from her to Lizzie. 

Lizzie tries to glare at him in response, but she wavers no matter how hard she tries to hide it. Something slips as she crosses her arms, attempting to stop it. There's a hint of uncertainty though as she looks down at the ground. That's all she needs.

"Don't talk to them," her dad spits as her uncle Damon applies the smallest amount of pressure to the stake, letting it rip a small tear in the front of Kai's shirt. Right over his heart.

"Why not?" Lizzie blurts out, clearly not intending for the question to be voiced. 

Uncle Damon gives a frustrated groan, and even Uncle Enzo casts his eyes up as he keeps his grip on Kai's arm. Josie looks over at Lizzie in surprise, as do their mom and dad. 

Under their stares, Lizzie seems to falter again. Not one to back down, though, it's brief, and she stands tall, jutting her chin out as she stares at the both of them. The uncertainty lingers even as she presses on, but Josie can tell that she's gotten through to her somewhere in everything she said. 

"Because he might tell us the truth?" Lizzie asks tartly, her eyes narrowing at them. 

"Are you really having your latest family drama _now_? Don't you think we have more pressing matters?" Uncle Damon asks over his shoulder, mainly looking at their parents pointedly. Everyone ignores him. 

"Anything that comes out of his mouth is a — a manipulation," her dad says in disbelief, pointing his gun excessively at Kai as if it's somehow supposed to convince them that he's right. "All twisted lies to get you on his side. Neither of you know him like we do."

"Because you never let us!" Josie counters. "If you had just told us about him then we wouldn't be here right now. All you had to do was be honest with us and tell us the truth."

"But of course, you chose to hide it," Lizzie adds for her, the anger creeping into her voice now. "Because, why tell your daughters anything? It's not like you aren't already keeping literally everything from us. Oh, wait."

"You're right," their mom says, far gentler than their dad as she shakes her head, a desperate sort of sadness all over her face and in her voice. "We should have told you. All of it. But how? When was the right time to talk about this?"

"Certainly not right now, that's for sure," Uncle Damon mutters, and is once again ignored.

Lizzie shakes her head, looking away as she huffs out a quiet scoff. Josie gets it. She's not entirely sure how she would have handled knowing everything that she now does years earlier. But she wishes that she had the opportunity to find out and work through it. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to process now. 

"If you know everything that he's done, why are you defending him?" their dad asks. His voice breaks, lowering, and the look that crosses his face is the exact one he wore when they had to say goodbye to Jo. "He murdered _Jo._ He tried to kill both of you. He's hurt so many people, including almost everyone here right now, so why....?"

He trails off, giving a confused shake of his head as he looks between the two of them. It makes Josie's heart twist again, painfully, and she wants to take it all back. But she knows she can't, even if her vision is starting to blur and her throat is closing up. She has to be right. This can't be the only way to put an end to this. 

"We're not defending him," Lizzie says sharply, as if even the implication offends her. But she glances back at Josie, then over at Kai, something slipping in her hard, not-totally-blank expression.

She quickly regains her composure as she rounds back on their dad.

"I hate him and knowing everything he's done makes me sick, but at least he told us the truth. Unlike either of you, " she adds, a bitter edge now poked sharply at both of them. "He didn't even try and lie to us when we interrogated him. No matter how bad it made him look, he admitted to everything."

"Because he's proud of it!" Uncle Damon exclaims in frustration, looking back at them, briefly capturing their attention. "He happily admitted to murdering his entire family when we first met him."

Aunt Bonnie agrees when he gestures his free hand towards her, her mouth twisting with displeasure. Kai just looks back at her, his head tilted up slightly as Uncle Damon seems to press the stake a little harder. Josie almost thinks she spots it starting to break through his skin, a small drop of blood escaping, trickling down onto his shirt. 

"The point is that he was honest about it," Josie says, looking at her mom and dad, her voice far calmer than Lizzie's. "That has to count for something."

"What are you trying to say?" her mom asks with a slight shake of her head. "That — that you want us to give him another chance? To be your _uncle_? Because..." sadness clouds her features, almost as if it pains her to say it to her, "...he's not going to be the man that you want him to be. Trust me, for a while, I thought that maybe he would actually change. But he didn't."

"But it's been twelve years," Josie argues. "He could have changed. He didn't even try to hurt us when we were in there with him even though he had every opportunity. And..."

She pauses, breathing in as she throws him another glance. He briefly meets her eyes. She can't figure out if the switch has flipped itself back or not; there's something there, in the back of his eyes, tucked away deep inside of him. 

Her heart aches for the other uncle that she knows is looking back at her, even if not with his own eyes, or body, or even mind. But his soul is in there, somewhere, even if Kai himself doesn't have one worth saving. The uncle she could have had doesn't deserve this. 

"You don't have to give him a second chance," she finishes, turning back. She catches Lizzie's surprise and confusion from the corner of her eyes, but she simply presses on. "Put him back in the prison world if you have to. Do whatever you think is necessary, but...don't kill him. That's all I'm asking."

"Caroline," her aunt Bonnie says softly, making her look at her. "I'm not giving him another chance to escape. I can't."

Josie watches them share a meaningful look and her stomach twists. She was so close, she could feel it. Her mom was faltering and doubting it. But now...

Her mom closes her eyes, a soft sigh passing her lips. She shakes her head slowly, and Josie can tell that she doesn't know what to do. If only she could convince the rest of them enough to have that little slip of doubt as well. 

"Alright, answer me this, _Glinda_," her uncle Damon says, turning halfway to face her at last, Uncle Enzo's eyes flicking down to make sure the stake doesn't slip. "If Malachai the murderer over here didn't change in the twenty years he spent in the first prison world, or even in his few year vacation to hell, what exactly makes you think that he's any different now? Because, as I'm seeing it, the three of you were terrified of him when you popped up here, and I know that Kaleb's neck didn't snap itself, so."

He waves a hand pointedly from her to Lizzie, to Stefanie and pauses for emphasis as if he knows that she doesn't have an answer. He makes a good point, and she knows that, deep down, the chances of Kai actually changing just from spending twelve years on his own when he's already done that for twenty are slim. 

Her eyes drift down to where Kaleb's still laying on the dirt ground, unconscious. He should be waking up any moment now. At the reminder, Stefanie and Lizzie even seem to want to go to him, eyeing him with something akin to worry about him.

"Because I have to believe there's something left in him," she says honestly, shaking her head at his exasperated noise. She looks at her mom and dad as she adds, "no one is inherently evil. You both taught us that. Remember? You said that just because we shared genes with people who made the wrong decisions and hurt others, that didn't mean that we were destined to be just like them."

Lizzie looks down. Josie can recall every single conversation that they've had late at night in the dark, Lizzie's whispered confessions of feeling like she's broken and is afraid of following in the coven's footsteps, even if they didn't know the details of what they had done.

Even Josie has felt that same pull of darkness inside of her, at times feeling like it's the only thing trying to hold the broken pieces inside of her together like glue. Pulling and stretching desperately to stop it all from crashing down inside of her. It's terrifying, and she hates how it makes her feel and think. But she always remembers what her parents have told them when that feeling creeps up on her. 

"That's different," her dad tries as if the thought of them being anything like Kai is ridiculous. "You girls are so _good_. You would never do anything like what he's done."

"But we could," Josie counters, her heart beating too fast at the admission to both them and herself. "We're both capable of it. So, if we're capable of making the wrong decisions and becoming like the rest of our relatives from the coven, then why can't he be capable of becoming good like us? Everyone can change, especially with twelve years to try. Can't they?"

No one speaks. Her mom and dad hesitate, glancing at each other. It's clear by the look that passes between them that she's gotten through to them, at least enough. Her aunt Bonnie, and uncle Damon and Enzo don't seem so sure, though she catches a brief glimpse of something on all of their faces. 

She doesn't know their pasts, but as she said earlier, she's well aware that none of them is innocent. But they've all changed, and it's showing on their faces. Not one person standing in front of them hasn't changed in the last twelve years, or even the last three. 

Kai makes a noise, sucking air through his teeth. All of their eyes turn on him and the sheepish look on his face. 

"Oh, this is embarrassing," he says with a roll of his head and a slight shrug of his shoulders. "See...they're actually right."

Caught off-guard, Kai's able to break free of her uncle Enzo's hold of him before anyone can even blink, flipping him and knocking him straight to the ground. Uncle Damon doesn't have time to react before Kai's got the stakes in his hand and has lodged it three inches to the right of her uncle Enzo's heart. 

Aunt Bonnie raises her hands and goes to start chanting, anger flaring in her eyes. Her mom practically growls. She lunges for him, but Kai's already snatched her dad's gun from his hands and pulls Uncle Damon to him, his arm wrapping tightly around his throat, forcing her to stop.

"_Phasmatos superous em animi_," Kai mutters before her aunt Bonnie can get one word out. 

Her words get caught in her throat, turning into a choked gasp of pain. She doubles over, her hands flying to her stomach. Josie just barely catches a flash of dark red quickly seeping through her shirt, covering her hands. 

"Mom!" Stefanie cries, staring in horror. 

Uncle Damon's by her side in a second, and Uncle Enzo's struggling to pull the stake out of his chest to help.

Josie can't move. Her mom freezes, her eyes widening in alarm. Her uncle Damon rips the lower part of Aunt Bonnie's shirt, checking the source of the blood. By the looks of it, it's a scar stretching from the top of her stomach to three inches to the left of her belly button, now bleeding heavily as if it's been magically reopened. 

Josie turns back to find Kai. Except, the spot he had been standing in is now empty. 

"You know, I was actually starting to like you," his voice comes from behind Lizzie. 

Both of them whip around, staring up at him. She wants to reach out and pull Lizzie away, but her heart's pounding too loudly in her ears, feeling like it's about to burst from her chest. When she goes to move forward, Kai's eyes snap to her, focusing his steely gaze on her, and it's like she's frozen to the spot.

His mouth is twisted into an insincere smile, full of something that is the opposite of what she's seen on him. Malice. Cruelty. A sadistic enjoyment of the chaos he's causing around him and watching unfold with pure and utter glee shining brightly all over his face. 

"Well, one of you, anyway," he says before turning back to Lizzie. "It's just—" he gives a slight chuckle, "—you're so much like that little brat. Liv. And — I do not like having to compete. And hey, I've given you exactly what you wanted, right? Think of it as a gift. From uncle to nieces. And, that apology? It was for this."

Every fibre of Josie wants to scream out for Lizzie to run, urging her to help her. For a split second, all she can think is that she should have let them do it. Lizzie was right; Kai isn't their uncle, he isn't a part of their family. 

She goes again to move forward, her stomach swooping. Then his hands shoot out. A loud snap resonates around them. Josie's stomach drops and everything just stops. Her heart, her mind. There's a sharp flare of pain in her neck, but she knows it's not her own. 

"No!" The scream claws from her throat without her even registering it.

Lizzie crumples like burning paper to the ground, collapsing in a heap. Her eyes are still open, staring lifelessly. For a moment, all Josie can feel is a blinding pain, spreading like a wildfire through her body. Then it goes numb, hitting every nerve in her body and sending a cold chill of nothing to the next, and the next after that. 

Her mom and dad both scream, the anguished cries tearing through the air. Josie can't speak. She can't move, all she can do is stare through the tears quickly blurring Lizzie's body from sight. A sob tears from her throat, and that's it. Her entire body collapses in on itself, shaking uncontrollably. She tries to move forward, her legs crumbling under the pressure, but she starts to reach out for Lizzie anyway.

Kai moves in a blur. She doesn't get a chance to register where he goes. Another sharp pain flares up her neck, excruciating this time as it tears at every part of her mind. Then the numbness takes back over, and all of the pain just stops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy. So...thoughts? I would love to hear all of them...❤


	22. Someone say they're looking for an escaped heretic?

Everything stops. It goes still, not even time able to push forward. Caroline can't breathe. Her chest is burning, every inch of her on fire. Her throat's too tight, but that doesn't stop the cries clawing their way out, tearing her throat apart as she watches Lizzie and Josie fall to the ground. Neither of them move an inch.

Her legs give out but she barely registers it, even as she collapses onto her knees, her hands shaking in front of her mouth. This can't be real. It can't be happening. It has to be some sort of illusion; Kai's done those before, it's possible he's doing that now, just to trick them. But he's already gone, not a trace of him left behind, and she knows that he would have to be there for it to hold.

"No," Alaric breathes out, his voice cracking on the one word. "No, no — no."

She vamps to their side, her heart hitting against her ribs in protest. She stares down at them with wide eyes, trying to blink through the tears as she swallows past the lump in her throat.

"There has to be something we can do," she manages to choke out as she does her best to pull herself together, pushing their hair away from their faces with either hand. "They...they're witches, so, maybe — maybe there's some sort of spell, or — or that witch. She managed to bring back Enzo, and — and Tyler, so, she could — she has to be able to..."

She trails off, the words becoming a tangled mess of another sob that's forced out of her throat and shakes her body along with it. She moves her head side-to-side, too fast, closing her eyes tightly. The tears warm her cheeks on the way down, stinging her eyes.

It can't be real. She presses her lips together, forcing another cry back down into her lungs. They're still burning and aching, and yet, everything feels numb. Even as she forces her eyes back open, her fingers still shakily brushing over their foreheads and through their hair. 

Alaric drops down in front of her. She can't bring herself to look up at him. Every emotion that's swirling around inside of her like a storm right now will be mirrored right back to her on his face. 

"Oh my god," Bonnie says quietly from somewhere to her right, no longer gasping for breath.

Caroline's heart shatters, even if not audibly but palpably. It crumbles to pieces inside of her, bringing down everything else in its wake. She rocks slowly, leaning down as she cradles them both as best she can. She barely registers the noises escaping her, all twisted and pained and broken. 

"This can't be happening," Alaric breathes out through another crack, his eyes glistening and wet. He shakes his head, staring at them, holding one of their hands each. "This can't be real. This isn't...oh _god_."

Hearing him break down only has Caroline crying harder. She can't think. They're really dead. Her children are dead. This is why she was away for so long, to prevent this. She had thought that if she was just able to find a way to stop the merge from happening, they would be _safe, _that they would be_ fine._

All that time, wasted. So many moments she could have been spending with them. Even their sixteenth birthday. If she had just been around more, maybe they could have stopped this.

Her senses pick up on someone kneeling down next to her, but she can't focus on them. Not on them, or the fact that they're surrounded by people, all just a few feet away as well and watched the entire thing unfold. Not on their horrified stares or their heartwrenching silence.

All she can do is cry. Her chest constricts and twists, and she can barely breathe between the quiet sobs being pulled from her throat that already feels raw. 

"This wasn't how this was supposed to be," she forces out, her voice shaking. She quickly presses her lips together, shaking her head again to suppress another noise that claws at her chest and mind in agony.

"I am so sorry," Enzo's voice comes from right beside her, low and pained. It even cracks a little in the middle.

She doesn't have the ability to respond. When Bonnie carefully detaches her from Lizzie and Josie, and Enzo wraps his arms around her, she lets the. She can't fight. It hurts too much.

He pulls her to him, and she collapses in his arms, her whole body shaking with noises that are muffled by his chest. She's faintly aware of Bonnie joining him with an arm wrapping around her shoulders. Damon and Dorian sit with Alaric, trying to comfort him. She hears his heartbroken sob as he crumbles and lets Damon hold him, Dorian saying something inaudible to him, and she has to curl in on herself.

It's all she can feel, wrapping around her tightly as if trying to suffocate her in everyone's despair. Her own is more than enough to drown her. Enzo only tightens his arms around her when another sob of her own tears her throat.

She clings to him and Bonnie, trying to ground herself. It's near impossible. Her head is pounding, the cracking of her heart too loud, and even with her eyes shut all she can see is their faces. How effortlessly Kai snapped their necks in the space of five seconds. It keeps replaying over and over again in a loop no matter how hard she tries to push it out. 

"They're gone," Alaric rasps, barely able to get the words out. "They're dead."

Caroline cries harder, rocking herself as she presses her hands to her mouth. She almost doesn't catch the faint gasp for breath from somewhere to her right. She doesn't look up. If she opens her eyes, she'll see them again. Their faces. Their open eyes, wide and shocked, the last traces of life on their faces being that of fear and horror. Because of him.

She feels Bonnie shift away, then catches her saying Kaleb's name, and she guesses he's finally come back. Her heart clenches and drops, every piece of her tearing at itself, and she falls apart all over again.

Enzo's saying something to her — her name, a soothing assurance, a cracked but gentle encouragement that it's okay, she can cry as long as she needs to — but her head is spinning and all she can do is curl further in on herself. 

She catches snippets of voices. Davina's heartbroken question of what they should do, and neither Kol nor Freya knowing the answer. Even Valerie's silence in response, the heartbreak drifting all the way across to her. Dorian's attempts at soothing Alaric, but his own voice is cracking with each word, and it's only resulting in both of them breaking down as Damon manages to hold himself together for both of them. Bonnie and Stefanie talking to Kaleb, sounding like they're helping him to his feet. 

"What's going on?" Kaleb asks, the confusion sticking out in his voice. "Where did Kai go?"

Caroline can't bear to listen to them tell him what happened. She blocks it out, and Enzo helps, not stopping for a second in talking to her, even if his words aren't convincing and are merely meant to calm her down. It works, giving her something to focus her attention on rather than everything else around her. It's still not enough. 

"We don't know where he went, but..." Bonnie pauses, and it's long and deafening, and Caroline wants to throw up. "Lizzie and Josie are dead. Kai...he killed them."

Caroline would probably cry even harder if she could. But the numbness from before is flaring back up, spreading through every inch of her like ice being injected into her veins. Her cries falter as her chest heaves, but her body is still shaking, collapsing in on herself with every few exhales, her eyes burning even beneath her eyelids.

"_What_?" Kaleb breathes out in despair. "No, no...he couldn't...that's not..."

"I know," Bonnie says gently, and Caroline can presume she pulls him into a hug by the way her voice muffles. She keeps talking to him, trying to comfort him and herself at the same time, but her voice is breaking. 

There's a beat of silence that isn't really silent at all, but filled with more soft hiccups of exhausted crying, their throats all raw and that coming through in the noises and gasps of heartbroken breaths that claw at Caroline's heart until it's shredded to pieces and she's positive there's nothing left. 

"No, he didn't," Kaleb quickly cuts Bonnie off, with more conviction, and Caroline realizes now that it's not shock in his voice. 

Caroline stops, and Enzo does as well, his hands coming to a halt, one on the back of her head, the other between her shoulder blades. She lifts her head, Alaric doing the same as they stare at him, tears still building in the corners of his eyes.

Kaleb pulls away from Bonnie, shaking his head. His eyes dart between them all, glistening and wide.

"In the prison world, after you sent that message to us...Lizzie got all freaked about not being able to trust Kai. She..." His tone shifts, regret filling it, but also bordering on something close to hope as he seems to avoid their eyes now. "She asked me to give her some of my blood."

Everything stops all over again, including Caroline's heart that seems to have grown back. They're all staring at him, trying to digest what he just said. It's not possible. He can't be saying what she thinks he's saying. That would mean...

"And you gave her it?" Bonnie asks.

"I tried to refuse!" Kaleb defends, lifting his eyes back to her. "But then she started going on about how we didn't know what Kai could do and that if she got hurt without my blood then she would die for real, and I...I had to! I didn't trust Kai, and I wasn't just gonna let her go back out there to get herself killed without some sort of insurance. Alright? And — clearly I made the right choice."

He gestures to her limp, lifeless body. Caroline's gaze drifts down to the ground. Her heart has started back up and is now tripping and stumbling over itself in an effort to keep up with her mind as she tries to make sense of it all. Lizzie had vampire blood in her system. And now she's dead. 

"Wait, so..." Her eyes start to widen and flit between Lizzie and Kaleb, the realization slowly coming to her.

It seems to be hitting Alaric as well, she notices out of the blurry corners of her eyes. He composes himself as best he can, pulling away from Damon as his brow crumples and he looks between the three of them. 

"That would mean..." he adds for her, his voice cracking a little in the middle as he shakes his head slowly.

Silence falls over them as the rest of his sentence hangs in the air around them, picked up by all of them. He and Caroline both look back to Lizzie. Caroline sucks in a breath, her stomach dropping as Enzo's arms start to loosen around her.

She presses her lips together, swallowing the lump in her throat. It sticks, refusing to budge. 

"She's not dead," she manages to whisper.

"She's turning," Alaric finishes.

They hit her full force like a wave crashing into her. Not dead is the only part that matters to her right now. They can handle the rest later. Not dead is what's important. Her eyes dart to Josie and her chest tightens. The relief that had been starting to slip through her veins to replace the numbness comes to a halt, her eyes widening further.

"What about Josie?" she asks, urgently turning back to Kaleb, hope twisting around inside of her.

He falters, and that's enough for her to know before he gives a slight shake of his head. His eyes drop to the ground, looking away from her, and her heart drops along with him. She hurriedly looks over at Stefanie, needing to be sure.

"I don't think she had any vampire blood in her system," Stefanie tell her quietly, her voice small.

She's got her arms curled around herself as if it'll stop her from shaking. She's still bleeding from the little cuts on her skin, shards of glass still tangled up in her hair. She seems to be doing everything she can not to look at Lizzie and Josie, a haunted look in her eyes that are so much like Bonnie's.

They've even got the same heartbroken look on their faces as Caroline and Alaric let that sink in.

She looks back over at Josie and her vision blurs all over again. The numbness doesn't settle back in but she wishes more than anything it would so that she wouldn't be able to feel any of this. Her shoulders start to shake again and she crumbles, her body collapsing in on itself once more. 

"Shh, okay. I've got you," Enzo soothes her, quickly pulling her back to his chest with a shaking sigh. "It's okay."

It's like her heart's breaking over and over again, rebuilding itself each time just to crack and fall apart like its made of glass. She can feel it — the beating against her ribs, the sound filling her head. It's like everything inside of her is gone, replaced with an aching emptiness that only makes her cry harder as if the tears will be able to fill the void that's slowly making itself at home in her chest. 

Minutes pass, or maybe it's longer. She's too disoriented and exhausted to really pay much attention, even when Bonnie moves back to her side and she and Enzo gently pull her to her feet. She feels the movements, but it's all a blur, and she keeps her eyes closed tightly. The tears are drying on her face, but more just keep pushing their way out with a relentless burning in her eyes, spreading to her head.

Voices talk around her, hushed, carefully directing their words away from her. "_Move them" _and "_inside"_ stick out. 

Then the hands on her shoulders and the arms around her are gently pulling her forward. She tries to protest for a second, shaking her head. The only coherent thing she manages to push out of her mouth is another cry that rubs against her throat roughly.

"We're going to bring them inside," Damon tells her gently. "It'll be better to wait in there for Lizzie to wake up."

The absence of Josie's name has Caroline's heart sinking again. She can't bring herself to give another protest, and she's letting them guide her this time, barely conscious of the fact that she's doing it until the noises around her shift from the outside to the low murmur of a school. Her school. Her home. Her family's home. 

This was never supposed to happen. If she had just attacked Kai the second she saw him, they could have prevented this. _She _could have prevented this. Kai would be dead, and her children wouldn't be. All it would have taken was one second; just one second to plunge her hand into his chest and rip his heart out before he could even get one word out of his smirking mouth. 

She tries to find reasons for why she didn't. She was worried that he would immediately attack Lizzie, Josie, or Stefanie. There was an entire school full of innocent kids within thirty feet of him and who knows what he would have done if provoked right off the bat? He might even have been able to fight her off. If he had snapped her neck, she would have been out the entire time, and she wouldn't have been able to protect anyone. 

She wasn't able to protect them anyway, she realizes with a sinking feeling, attaching itself like a hook to her ribs. 

When she's finally able to make herself focus on something, she's sitting on one of the couches in the usually empty common room. It takes a few blinks to get rid of the blur left behind in her eyes, though it doesn't help entirely.

She glances around the room anyway, trying to find something to ground herself with. 

Freya, Kol and Davina are a little off to the side, the three of them silent but sharing looks that she knows all too well. She was faced with the exact look on the faces of stranger after stranger after her dad died, and at her mom's funeral.

Valerie's by herself, her arms crossed as she stays close to the entrance to the room. Caroline almost thinks her eyes are a little more watery than usual, but maybe it's just her own slightly blurred vision. 

The comforting hands moving across her back and arms, and gripping her shoulders gently are still there, on either side of her, and she doesn't need to look to know where Bonnie and Enzo are.

She wishes she had, though, because instead of seeking out familiar faces, she watches as Dorian and Damon carry Lizzie and Josie in. Alaric's trailing behind them without really looking. They're both limp in their arms. Lifeless. Dead.

She quickly covers her mouth as she clamps it shut, muffling the noise that tears at her already torn throat. Her eyes follow them despite Bonnie trying to gently get her attention, pull it away from them. She watches Dorian and Damon carefully set them down at either end of the couch opposite her. 

Their eyes are closed now, she notices. It somehow brings a small comfort to her. They just look like they're sleeping. Lizzie practically is. But then she looks at Josie, her head propped up on the arm of the couch, and she remembers that only one of them is going to wake up.

She catches Alaric's eyes across the room as he stands behind the couch, leaning to grip the back of it and keep himself steady. The look that passes between them is knowing. They're both thinking the same thing, and Caroline hates it. 

"I hate to be the one to ask," Kol says, and actually sounds like he means it, too, as he looks between them, "but...what now?"

She can tell he's asking about the merge. That's the only reason that he's even there, as well as half of them in the room. The whole point was to break the curse once and for all. So that they wouldn't have to go through exactly what they are right now.

"I..." she swallows, giving a small shake of her head as she closes her eyes, "I don't know."

"We considered what would happen if one of them was to turn," Alaric tells him. "But we were never able to figure out if it would be enough to stop them from having to merge or if the curse would still..."

Kill them. They didn't know if loopholes were allowed in terms of the Gemini curse. They had thought that if it were that easy, why wouldn't the coven have just done that instead? And even if it were to work back then, there's always the possibility that it wouldn't now because they're the last two Gemini members.

No matter the answer or their theories, neither of them had wanted to even think of it as an actual option. They were doing this to prevent their kids from dying, not to make it happen. Vampire or not, it just wasn't an option.

"So," Davina's face twists, trying to keep her sympathy for them hidden, "the curse could still affect them? I mean...could affect her?"

There's an empty ache deep in Caroline's chest, a large space where her heart resided now no more than a dull beat with nothing attached She bites the inside of her cheek but raises her shoulders, forgetting to drop them again.

"We don't know," she says quietly as her eyes drift back to the two of them. Her throat only tightens and she has to sink her teeth in harder. "We thought we would never have to find out if we could find a way to stop it entirely. I thought we had found a way."

Silence falls over the room once again, letting her words hang heavily around them. The longer she stares at the two of them, the more she thinks that she can see a twitch, or just a slight movement of some sort. But both of them stay perfectly still. She even thinks the colour has started to drain out of them, Josie especially. 

No one seems to know what to do. Everyone's just sitting or standing around, quiet and looking at each other or blankly at some random spot of the room.

Alaric's taken a seat on the floor, right in front of the couch. He's holding onto one of Lizzie's and Josie's hands in his own, his thumbs stroking over the backs of them. He's looking at Lizzie, waiting for her to wake up now like the rest of them, but his eyes keep flitting to Josie with a hopeful glint every time. As if there's still some small possibility that she's going to wake up alongside Lizzie any second now. 

It hurts her to watch, but every instinct in her body wants to be doing the exact same thing. Clinging to some small semblance of _hope_ that this is all going to work out fine.

She stands without really thinking. Enzo's hands slip from her hesitantly, but Bonnie quickly catches her hand in her own, holding her in place. She looks up at her when Caroline turns back.

Caroline just gives her a small smile in response to her silent worries. Even she can feel that it doesn't even come close to reaching her eyes, but it seems to be enough for Bonnie. She gives her hand another gentle squeeze before letting go.

Caroline then moves across the room, trying to take in a slow, steady breath as she approaches the couch. She sits down beside Alaric, and he looks over at her. There's still a glassy look to his eyes, and his cheeks haven't completely dried. She can feel a wetness to her own as well as she tries to smile at him like she did with Bonnie. 

When he attempts to return it, though, a tear falls, twisting his mouth, and Caroline breaks. She ducks her head, squeezing her eyes shut. She feels a hand slipping into hers as a silent cry tugs at her chest. 

She swallows it, looking down at Alaric's hand. He gives her another watery attempt at a smile when she lifts her head, and she can only nod back as her mouth stretches. There's something comforting about his hand in hers and the look they share.

Maybe it's just because they both understand. They're in this together, no matter anything that's happened in the past few days, or even years. Whatever happens next, they'll deal with it together, and she knows she isn't going to be alone.

Without having to say a word, she picks up Lizzie's hand, Alaric having let go to comfort her. He keeps a hold on Josie's, and Caroline doesn't say anything. She just presses her lips to Lizzie's hand, and they sit there, in silence, watching the both of them as they wait. She tries not to compare it to watching Elena sit by Jeremy's bedside in wait for him to wake while they all knew he was never going to. 

* * *

Time passes far too slowly. Bonnie isn't sure anyone can pay much attention to anything else. Each second that ticks by is another one that Lizzie doesn't wake up. That Josie isn't going to. She feels sick to her stomach, but she watches the clock along with the rest of them all the same. The wait somehow feels like the worst part. 

She hasn't moved an inch from the couch since she sat Caroline down on it. Maybe a slight shift here and there, and a turn of her head every now and then to glance around the room. It's been long enough that students pass by every now and then, and she always looks up without really meaning to. 

Dorian's had to get up at least ten times to divert them away with hushed voices and a gentle excuse for an explanation that is never quite the truth. Until the same two boys from earlier — she recognizes MG right away, remembering meeting him a couple of times as well as listening to Caroline tell her about Josie's every update — show back up. 

He tried his best to get them to leave, but they had already spotted Lizzie and Josie. Dorian really had no choice but to tell them what was going on. MG practically collapsed in a mess and the other boy — Landon, she overheard — just spiralled.

There was no making them leave, and so, Landon's been sitting on a chair by the door biting at his nails with a bouncing leg. He's turned his head away every now and then, and Bonnie's sure he's trying not to let them know he's crying so that it won't add to their own grief.

MG couldn't even try to do the same. The second the words left Dorian's mouth, he lost it, and Kaleb was pulling him close to him in the blink of an eye, clearly the only thing keeping him from buckling.

Kaleb isn't exactly much better; even though she's sure they weren't all that close, she's caught him wiping at his eyes at least five times, and he doesn't seem able to look at them for more than a few seconds.

MG's just been quiet for the last half hour or so, sitting on a chair by Josie's head and watching the both of them like Caroline and Alaric have been doing. She's not sure he's looked away once, and she's barely seen him blink. 

Bonnie can't help but be reminded of her high school years. Finding out that Elena was going to turn. That she was dead. Waiting around with her for Jeremy to wake up when they all knew that he was never going to, except this time, Bonnie isn't convinced that she can bring people back from the dead. 

Expecting Enzo to wake up at any moment after he died. Watching person after person die and having to wait for them to come back to her. Some of them never did.

She hangs her head, closing her eyes to block the thoughts out. Reminiscing on the past isn't going to do her any good. It isn't going to make her feel any better about this. Kai's free. He got exactly what he wanted. He killed Josie. He's turned Lizzie into a vampire, even if he wasn't aware of it.

Her eyes burn no matter how tightly she keeps them closed. He can do anything he likes now. As if ruining Alaric's life again wasn't enough; as if ruining Caroline's, and Lizzie's, and Josie's wasn't enough.

"Mom?" she hears Stefanie say softly, uncertain.

Bonnie lifts her head, looking to her right. Stefanie's taken a seat beside her at last, having been kept occupied and distracted by Enzo while he checked over the extent of her injuries, untangling pieces of glass from her hair. She's now watching her with the exact same worry and concern.

Something settles inside of her just at the sight of her. She's here, and she's safe. Kaleb's safe.

A small smile settles across her lips out of relief alone, and she leans over, wrapping her arms around Stefanie. She hugs her tightly as Stefanie winces but quickly buries herself into her arms, collapsing into her. Her guards seem to go straight down as if finally feeling safe enough to let it. 

It twists something deep inside of Bonnie to think that she ever felt unsafe for even a second. The life that she had — that she, Caroline, and Elena went through together — was never supposed to be Stefanie's. Or Kaleb's. Or Lizzie's or Josie's. None of these kids were supposed to have to deal with any of this. 

"Are you okay?" Stefanie asks, the words slightly muffled.

Bonnie pulls back but keeps her hands on Stefanie's shoulders, looking her in the eyes. 

"Am I okay?" she repeats in disbelief. "You're the one who went into a prison world. Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm fine," Stefanie quickly says. Too quickly.

All of her cuts have stopped bleeding, and there was no real internal damage apparently. Her eyes dart across the room, and Bonnie follows her broken gaze. Her heart sinks even further if possible. Her voice is small and quieter when she speaks again.

"But they're not. Are they?"

Bonnie doesn't need to answer her. She can't bring herself to, either.

"He told us everything," Stefanie says, her voice remaining at the low tone she's taken to. "About everything he did to his family. And he started talking about you and dad, and I...I figured out who he was. But he kept talking about you, and saying all of these things, and I just got so_ mad_."

The way that she says it has Bonnie thinking that she doesn't just mean the human anger. She looks down and waves a hand to her hair that Enzo managed to untangle completely and her face that's still lined with red marks, unable to heal on their own like Kaleb has already done after getting a little assistance from Dorian with a few of the shards. 

"I blew the windows out," she confesses. "My magic just kept building up inside of me, and it's like I couldn't breathe. It's like, all I could focus on was how much I hated him, and then it just exploded. I couldn't control it." She shifts her head, looking up at her with wide eyes, and in a quiet voice, says, "I wanted to hurt him."

Bonnie's heart aches at the fear all over her face. She knows it too well, just as she knows the feeling of blinding anger that she describes. For a witch, learning to control their magic can be easy and can feel as natural as breathing, and for others, it can feel like a constant game of tug-of-war, split between their body and their powers.

Her grams always tried to warn her that because of their powerful bloodline, it might not always be easy for them. She was right, of course, which Bonnie figured out when she finally realized she was actually a witch. It's never been easy, even when she's felt more connected to her magic and herself than she ever has before.

She had been hoping that the lack of explosions or bloody noses meant that Stefanie was controlling it better than she first had and wasn't experiencing the same build-up of pressure inside of her that was always seconds away from pushing Bonnie over the edge. 

"Do you remember everything I told you that your great-grams told me when I first tapped into my magic?" she asks, and Stefanie nods. "It's just going to take a little more practice and a little more help, that's all. It's not your fault, sweetie. I hadn't realized you were struggling with it or else I would have done something sooner."

Stefanie shakes her head now. "It's only been happening recently," she tells her. "Whenever I get angry, or upset. I just tried to do everything you told me, with the breathing and the concentration. Nothing's really been helping." 

Bonnie wishes she had listened to Caroline and come back sooner. She shouldn't have left a week earlier than she was supposed to, even for that lead. Stefanie clearly needed her to be there, to notice and help her. 

She gently tilts Stefanie's head up with a hand under her chin, making sure to avoid the cut that runs three inches long from a shard of glass that had gotten stuck. It must sting, Bonnie thinks as her eyes dart from one to the next, and she takes her hand. 

"_Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala_," she mutters, feeling the magic slip from the tips of her fingers to sink into Stefanie's skin.

Stefanie instantly relaxes a little bit, some of her pain visibly easing. Bonnie smiles. 

"We're going to get through it together, okay?" she tells her softly. "I have a few things that might be able to help, and I'll call your grams up. She still has a few things up her sleeves from her witch years. But...I would like you to reconsider coming here, even just for a semester. There are a lot of things here that would surprise you with how much they could help. How does that sound to you?"

Stefanie glances around, but for once, she doesn't look like she hates the idea. There's still a touch of reluctance, especially when she glances back over in Lizzie and Josie's direction. But she nods slowly, letting herself adjust to the idea, and turns back to Bonnie with a small smile of her own.

"Okay," she agrees. "I'll think about it."

"Good," Bonnie says, nodding as she tries not to think too far into that future. She can barely stand having to think about what the rest of the day is going to be like, and then tomorrow, and the rest to come for Caroline and Alaric. And Lizzie. 

Bonnie gently tucks a loose curl behind Stefanie's ear, trying not to think about the glass that had been stuck in it and how much more hurt she could have been as she sucks in a breath. She had imagined what it would be like if Stefanie went to this school. How she, Lizzie, and Josie could have been as close as Bonnie, Caroline, and Elena were. 

Her introduction to it wasn't supposed to be through the prison world, or from meeting Kai, or from watching him kill her friends. She thought that she was doing so well with it, telling her everything from a young age. Showing her Grimoires handed down from the Bennett line. Teaching her the most simple spells in the same way that her grams showed her.

She even had Damon and Enzo telling her every little detail of being a vampire; not just the bad parts, but the good parts, and letting her hear about the relationship between witches and vampires. So that she was more prepared, knew what to expect from the world as a supernatural being. 

Even spending weekends with her grams, helping her tend to the little magical patch of the garden that she no longer has a connection to but can guide her on how to create her own with her magic and her bond to nature. Coming to the school was just supposed to be another part of it; meeting other kids like her who aren't her cousins, and getting to learn every amazing part of life that comes with being a witch, especially a Bennett one. 

It wasn't supposed to be like this. The circumstances were supposed to be good, and none of this was supposed to happen.

She feels Damon's hand on her shoulder, rubbing in a soothing motion. Even without his vampiric abilities keeping him alert to everything around him, he's still able to sense when something's wrong with her. 

Stefanie curls back into her side and Bonnie winds an arm around her, pulling her close and holding her there. Her eyes drift, seeking out Enzo across the room. He's with Kaleb, talking away quietly. He glances over at them, and her smile lasts long enough to be returned. The warmth in her chest spreads as she watches him say something to Kaleb. 

He approaches them, Kaleb leaving to go back over to where MG and Landon are still huddled in a corner. By the looks of things, nothing has changed except that MG has hung his head. Her heart aches, and the sadness creeps back in as it all hits her all over again in another dragging wave.

Bonnie presses her lips to the top of Stefanie's head in a gentle kiss as Damon reaches out to Enzo, taking one of his hands and pulling him towards them, getting him to take a seat on the arm of the couch.

She can practically feel the worry and sadness coming off of Stefanie. It's too close to the type of grief she herself has experienced more than once in her lifetime. A perk of a powerful witch bloodline; they don't just have magical connections made with nature, but sometimes to each other.

"Love, are you alright?" Enzo asks, frowning as his eyes are drawn down in concern, and she knows he's not asking how she's feeling. "Are you still bleeding?"

Bonnie follows his line of sight down to her stomach. Her shirt is ripped and stained with partially-dried blood. The wound has faded back into a long white scar across her stomach, almost healed up completely.

It gives a little twinge in response to being acknowledged and there's an uncomfortable wetness to it that she knows means that Kai's spell didn't completely wear off when he decided to vanish into thin air. 

"Only a little," she says, but her hand moves to it without thinking.

Her fingers barely touch her skin as she drags them along the length of it tentatively while Stefanie pulls back slightly. She lifts her head, looking from her, to Enzo and Damon with what she hopes is a reassuring smile. 

"It's okay, though. Really."

It has to be okay. Even if there's a deep, nauseating aching still clinging to her, she's practically healed already as if it never even happened. The same can't be said for Lizzie and Josie. That's the main focus right now. Other than how the hell they're going to stop Kai from going on another murder spree through the whole population of Mystic Falls. If he didn't think to leave town before they come after him, that is.

"Bonnie," Damon presses firmly, the look on his face mirroring Enzo's. It's serious, and stern, but full of concern that would have surprised her seventeen-year-old self. Or even her twenty-one-year-old self. "Talk to us. Please. We get if you don't want to, but..."

He trails off, and Bonnie doesn't need him to finish. They won't push if she really can't bring herself to talk about it right now, especially with so many people in the same room, but it'll also mean she'll have their worried eyes following her for the rest of the night. Probably the next week. 

Her eyes move over the two of them. Damon's throat has taken on a shade of red, darkening more and more by the minute, and she's sure his voice is just a little hoarse when he speaks. Just a few inches to the right of Enzo's heart is a hole in his shirt, blood dried into it with the wound beneath now sealed up, and he still winces a little when he moves. They all got hurt in some way. 

Sighing, she lets her gaze fall to her lap. Stefanie's taken one of her hands in her own, her grip just a little tight to comfort herself. It's helping Bonnie, too. Grounding her in a way, just as Damon's hand on her shoulder is, and the way Enzo's looking at her, wishing they were back in the safety of their own home.

"It hurts like hell," she admits in a small voice, not wanting it to drift over to Caroline, or anyone else in the room. They have enough to worry about as it is, but she won't lie to Damon and Enzo. "It's like I was back in that place all over again."

Damon's hand tightens on her shoulder. He remembers what it was like as well. He was even there for the first time that Kai shot her with that crossbow, and he knows a glimpse of what she went through when she made him experience it, and she can tell he hates remembering it just as much as she does. 

"We're going to kill him," Damon says, his voice dangerously low. "As soon as we find him, that is."

"I can't say I have any qualms about that," Enzo agrees with him. They always have been on the same page about murder. Especially when it comes to anyone who's tried to harm their family. It's almost comforting, the familiarity of it.

And it's also disconcerting after thirteen years of no need for talks of murder or having to protect one another from things more dangerous than a simple fall from a tree, or a particularly snappy dog, or a common cold.

There have been concerns over the years about a certain witch coming back after helping them for no reason whatsoever and without asking for anything in return. But it died down after a few years, and things have been fine for the most part.

She didn't have to worry about someone being lost from her sight and immediately jumping to worrying about their safety and who could have them. Without really thinking, her eyes move over the room, just to be sure. No one has left. though. Not even Valerie, who seems like she would rather be anywhere else as she avoids looking at the two girls that they both helped bring in to the world.

"No," she decides, shaking her head. "We can't kill him. We'll find him, and we'll send him back to the prison world."

When she looks back at Damon and Enzo, they're staring at her as if she's lost her mind. A look she's surprisingly not unfamiliar with, even as of late. She can even feel Stefanie's eyes boring into her, confused and alarmed.

"What? You were all for sending that lunatic back to hell where he actually belongs," Enzo points out. "And that was before he even pulled any of this on us. You can't tell me you don't want to see him gone once and for all."

"Look, I still want him dead," Bonnie says, and almost immediately regrets it. She glances back at Stefanie, but she's just watching, listening to their conversation without the slightest hint of judgement or protest to what she said. She knows their past.

"Then why can't we kill him?" Damon asks. 

She sighs, and her eyes flit to the other side of the room for a brief moment. Anger for Kai burns deep in her stomach like acid bubbling away, her hatred for him magnified beyond a point of redeemability. She would kill him. She should have, back in the 1903 prison world, rather than leaving him there with even a minuscule chance to escape. 

She should have learned when he came back from hell. Another prison world would never be able to hold him. And after everything he's done, she's sure that she can't find a reason not to kill him. Except for the one laying lifeless while Alaric holds onto her hand as if maybe if he just doesn't let go, he'll be able to keep hope that this will have a different outcome from what they all know it's going to be.

"You heard Josie," she says, looking back at Damon and Enzo. "She was begging us not to kill him. Kai is a monster, and he has hurt too many people far too many times. But to Josie...he was a member of a family that she never got to meet, and I..." 

She bites down hard on her bottom lip, her eyes stinging at the very back. Her mouth twists a little as she forces herself to hold herself together. She watched Josie and Lizzie grow up. She remembers those sweet, innocent little girls that she helped deliver in the midst of their supernatural drama. Hearing them call her Aunt Bonnie and come to her with questions about magic and spells, and watching them be _happy_. 

"I just can't kill him now knowing that Josie didn't want that," she finishes.

She wants to, more than anything, especially now. But no matter how much she tells herself that she would be doing it for Josie — for Lizzie, for Caroline, for Alaric. For herself, and everyone else he's ever hurt. She can't stop imagining Josie's face. Heartbroken and begging them not to do it. 

If Caroline and Alaric decide otherwise, then of course she'll be on-board. She'll even help them if that's what they want. But she can't bring herself to be the one to insist or the one to even suggest it, no matter how much she hates him with every fibre of her being.

Enzo doesn't seem to be disagreeing with her. At least not vocally. She can tell he's still not in love with the idea of not taking another chance to kill Kai, and she can't blame him. She doesn't doubt that he would be looking for Kai right now to rip his heart out if he didn't think that his family needed him with them more.

"Alright, fine," Damon sighs, "but if we go with the whole throwing him back in the prison world thing, then we are destroying that ascendant. And the other one. I don't care how, we'll find some way, but we should have done it in the first place instead of leaving it here."

"Damon," Enzo says, almost sounding like he's warning him."Leave it for later. Now isn't the time for you and Alaric to start on this again."

"Oh my god — is that why you two weren't talking to each other?" Bonnie demands, lowering her voice as she stares at him incredulously. "Because of the ascendant?"

Damon quickly turns sheepish under her questioning stare, and Enzo confirms it with a nod. She closes her eyes, groaning softly under her breath. Of course that's why they were arguing. From the very start, Damon tried to argue that they should hold onto the ascendant themselves or destroy it.

He never liked the idea of it being in a school full of students with curious tendencies and "grabby hands" despite them not even being able to work it without the requirements of the twins and a Bennett. She was firm about her trust in Caroline and Alaric and was more than fine with leaving it with them at the school. 

Part of her is a little regretful of it now, of course. But what's to say that the same thing wouldn't have happened had they kept it anyway? Stefanie could have gotten curious, took it, and ended up in the exact same situation with Lizzie and Josie all over again. Knowing their luck, that's exactly what would have happened. 

"We'll destroy it this time," she assures him. "Once we decide what we're doing and find Kai."

"Someone say they're looking for an escaped heretic?" 

Bonnie straightens at the sound of the voice. Everyone turns to look over at the entranceway. Tyler walks in with Matt on his left and dragging an unconscious Kai in by the collar of his jacket that still glints with a few stray shards of glass. By the looks of it, he's been dosed with a good amount of vervain and just enough venom from the werewolf bite on his neck to keep him out for another few minutes.

"Saw him running around town square while we were patrolling the event," Matt explains with a grim smirk, neither of them seeming to notice what they're walking into. "Figured it wasn't good and that you'd probably be looking for him, so, a couple vervain bullets to the chest, a bite from a werewolf, combined with a snapped neck, and..."

He spreads his hands as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Bonnie imagines it probably was far easier now than it would have been thirteen years ago, especially with Tyler actually alive this time and Matt not distracted by his mom and Vicki returning from hell at the same time.

Tyler dumps Kai's body near the centre of the room, stopping. They finally seem to take in everyone around them. It takes a moment, but no one says a thing while they glance around, the confusion setting into their features with frowns.

"Alright," Tyler says slowly, turning back around to face them, "I've got a feeling that this is some sort of reunion of all the bad guys who have tried to kill us? And some new ones who are gonna try now?"

"Do we even wanna know what's going on?" Matt asks, his tone giving away that he's going to stay to find out all the same despite already knowing that he's going to regret it. He always does. 

But before any of them can answer, Tyler's already followed Bonnie's glance over to Caroline and Alaric. His face falls as he takes in the sight of Lizzie and Josie on the couch. The tear stains on everyone's faces, some even still crying. The general air of despair and grief hanging heavily in the air for all to be wrapped up in like it's trying to suffocate them.

"Wait, what happened?" Tyler asks, looking between the five of them now with growing apprehension. 

They're all looking at each other, faltering as they try to find the words to explain. Something about the expression on his and Matt's faces though tells her that they're already drawing their own conclusions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna be real honest, I cried writing this chapter. But damn. Please, tell me your thoughts on this chapter and if I'm just a super emotional person or if I gave any of you some feelings as well! I would love to hear all of your reactions to this! ❤


	23. Being a vampire doesn't make you a monster

As soon as they're done explaining the last few hours to them, the room goes quiet, letting it all sink in again. Tyler and Matt are trying to process it, but the second that Caroline told them what Kai did, they both broke down. She had to stop herself halfway through as well.

Matt's shaking his head, tears in his eyes as a muscle in his jaw clenches, trying to resist. He sinks down onto the arm of the chair closest to him. He can't seem to find the right words or way to even try and respond to any of it. He just meets her teary gaze, his head tilting and his lips parting as if wanting to comfort her, but nothing comes out. She understands perfectly anyway.

Her eyes shift back to Tyler as he turns away from them. His hand clenches by his side, his fingers curling into his palm tightly. She can see him spiralling into that pit of anger that he's been doing so well at avoiding lately, but with the full moon at its highest, he doesn't seem to be able to reel himself back in. 

"Tyler," she says gently, her voice still wobbling. 

He shakes his head but doesn't turn around, taking a few steps away. Then he seems to explode from it. His fist flies out in a blur and makes contact with the wall the next second. The plaster gives way and crumbles around his hand. 

"Tyler!" she and Matt both shout at him, Caroline's eyes widening. 

Matt's on his feet in a second and rushing to him as Tyler curses under his breath from the impact. He pulls his hand out of the hole he's made in the wall, more chips of plaster falling away.

"Calm down, Ty," Matt berates him through clenched teeth, his eyes still shining at the corners with unshed tears. "Just..."

He exhales, his shoulders collapsing, and he doesn't seem able to finish his own advice. They're all angry, even without the help of the full moon to give them the same push. Caroline honestly isn't even mad about the hole in the wall. It's not the first to be caused by a werewolf, and it certainly won't be the last. 

"No," Tyler says, shaking his head. He rubs his hand across his face, ignoring that he just put it through a wall two seconds ago. "No, he doesn't get to do this. He doesn't get to ruin our lives _again_."

He turns back around and his eyes immediately go to Kai, still passed out on the floor. If Caroline thought he was angry before, then he's furious now. It flashes in his eyes, and he's already falling into that blind rage that he used to when they were kids. 

He moves in a blur and has pinned Kai to the nearest wall by his throat in the blink of an eye. The kids startle, and Caroline wants to do something, but she can't quite bring herself to leave Lizzie and Josie's side. 

"Wake up, you bastard," he snarls, his voice low and growling inhumanely.

His fangs are poking through and Caroline's sure she catches a glimpse of yellow in his eyes as he presses Kai harder into the wall. The wood splinters underneath him, minuscule cracks quickly scaling the structure.

"You do not get to win this time," he tells him. "Wake up!"

"Ty!" Matt shouts again, yanking on his shoulder. 

Tyler brushes him off with ease, his grip only tightening on Kai's throat. Caroline caves and quickly stands, moving over to help Matt. Dorian seems to want to do the same, stepping halfway towards them as he throws a glance around at the kids who are watching it unfold in shock. 

"Stop it!" Caroline pulls on his arm, looking him firmly in the eyes. "You are a professor at this school and you have a responsibility to make these kids feel safe which you aren't doing right now."

It's the only reason she's stopping him. She would have been more than happy to let Tyler continue and kill Kai if he wanted to. But she saw the expressions on the kids' faces, and Josie's voice is in her head, replaying on a loop. 

"This isn't helping anyone," Matt chimes in.

They seem to get through to him. Tyler's arm relaxes underneath her hand and the ring of yellow slowly fades from his eyes. He regards Kai with the same seething hatred that Caroline can feel bubbling away inside of her, but after a moment passes, he lets go of him. 

Kai crumples back to the ground, his head lolling to the side. She has to wonder just how much vervain Matt used on him if even Tyler's attack didn't knock him back to consciousness. It's not enough either way. Not for what he's done.

Tyler looks up at her, and the anger quickly slips away, replaced by a look she understands too well. He starts to shake his head slowly, his mouth opening as if to try and say something that could possibly help. Caroline just pulls him in, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

He hugs her tightly and she quickly buries her face in his shoulder as she falls apart simply from being in his arms. The familiarity of it all both comforts her and only makes her feel so much worse. This part of their lives was supposed to be over. 

"What are we gonna do?" Matt asks hoarsely. His throat moves as he swallows and looks at Kai. "If you want, I can...you know."

"He doesn't get to get off that easy," Alaric decides. "Killing him now doesn't do anything except let him away with everything he has put us through."

"Ric," Caroline warns, lifting her head to look over at him. "Waiting to kill him is exactly what got us here. We can't give him another chance to do this again."

"What else can he do, Caroline?" Alaric rounds on her. "Huh? He's already taken Josie from us and forced Lizzie into becoming a mon—"

He falters, the rest of the word catching just before it can slip. It's still fairly easy to guess what it was going to be. It's like a knife twists that little bit further into her already bleeding heart, but she just bites the inside of her cheek, looking down. Even if she knows he's wrong about what he was going to say, Kai is living proof that there's at least some truth to it. 

She can tell by a few of the faces around her that they don't seem so keen on letting his slip-up go, especially the two confused teenagers staring at him as if he's just gone and betrayed them in some way. But no one says a thing either, though Kol certainly seems to be having a hard time at restraining himself.

Alaric sighs quietly. "He's taken everything from us," he says, choosing a different path as he shakes his head. "There's nothing else to lose by giving him what he deserves."

"May I offer up an alternative that doesn't risk my family's lives," Damon says, not even bothering to phrase it as a question or as anything other than a somewhat dulled, but pointed accusation. "We throw him back in the prison world and this time we actually throw away the key. Or in this case, destroy it."

"I knew you still weren't letting that go," Alaric says, glaring at him. "You know, the ascendant belonged with me, no matter what you think. Maybe...maybe I'm part of the reason they found it, and I admit that, and I regret that this happened more than anything, alright?"

Damon scoffs, but Bonnie looks at him and he drops it. Caroline can't help but be glad; an argument over who deserved to look after the ascendant would be pointless now when it's already caused so much trouble.

"It's too late to change things," Bonnie voices for her, glancing between the two of them as she pauses for emphasis. "But I do think the prison world is a good idea. I'm sure there's a way to destroy the ascendant on both sides, and then there's no chance of him ever escaping. He would be locked up forever this time." She then looks over at Caroline. "But I'll go along with whatever decision gets made."

Caroline can tell that she's being sincere, and it's not hard for her to see that Bonnie would like nothing more than to kill Kai. It's the reluctance to not stick with the prison world plan that's throwing her. It isn't until she goes to glance over at Alaric and misses by just a couple of inches, her eyes landing on Lizzie and Josie.

They are dead because of Kai. Lizzie is going to become a vampire. Josie isn't going to wake up. Because of Kai. It should make her want him dead — it does. More than anything, she wants to rip his heart out in that very moment and have it over with already. She's tempted to.

But no matter what she does, she can't stop thinking about Josie's pleas. Kai doesn't deserve her belief in him and his ability for redemption, or how much she seems to already care about him for some reason that she can't fathom. She hates how he's gotten into her head in just a few hours.

But he has, and the thought of killing Kai now seems like it would betray her in a twisted way that she is certain he intended on. She wants Kai out of their lives and to suffer for everything that he has done to her family, but she can't refuse to listen to what Josie wanted.

"We could destroy both ascendants?" Caroline asks Bonnie. "There would be no way for him to ever get out?"

"We can find a way," Bonnie agrees. "He'd be trapped there. For good this time."

"You can't be serious," Alaric flares, getting to his feet. "Caroline — look at what he's done!"

"I can see what he's done," she snaps, spinning back around to face him. "You don't think that I hate the thought of letting him live? Of — of knowing that he's never really going to suffer in that prison world because of how long he's already spent in there? I _hate_ it and I want him to suffer. But not more than I want to honour what our daughter wanted."

"She's dead, Caroline!" he shouts back. "Honouring her isn't going to change that, and I know that killing him won't either, but it'll sure as hell help me sleep at night knowing that the man who murdered her in cold blood suffered before I killed him."

"And I want to respect our daughter's last wishes for us not to kill her uncle!"

"You do not get to make this decision! I do! As their father!"

"What's she? Their babysitter?" Bonnie shoots at him, her eyes narrowing in disbelief.

Alaric shakes his head, a muscle in his jaw tightening and winding up along with him and the ball of anger Caroline can see exploding at the seams. He doesn't even spare Bonnie a glance, ignoring her comment entirely as he steps forward, his eyes staying locked on Caroline.

"I am making this decision," he tells her, his voice dangerous. "Kai has hurt my family too many times, and for that, I want him dead. Not locked up, not thrown in our dungeon or in another magical prison world that he'll no doubt inevitably escape from. I want him dead for what he has done to my family."

Caroline scoffs, all-consuming anger flaring inside of her.

"Our family! They are just as much my daughters as they are yours, Ric!" she shouts back. "So don't you even dare try and throw that in my face again like you did thirteen years ago."

"No, they are _my_ daughters, Caroline. _Mine_," Alaric's voice rises, matching hers with every ounce of his own misdirected anger. "And I will make the decision on how to_ '_honour them,' including what to do with the man who not only took their lives but also their mothers! You do not get to decide this."

"That is not fair and you know it," Caroline says, quickly lowering her voice. It's mostly to hide the crack in it and the fact that she's doing everything possible not to blink. If she blinks, the tears will fall, and if even one goes, she won't be able to pull herself back together this time.

"I think it's perfectly fair! Josie is dead! Lizzie is turning into a vampire! Where were you in all these years to help me protect them from this, huh? Spending weeks in Paris and Rome and _New Orleans_? Enjoying being free of the responsibility of being the parent you claim you are to them?"

"Woah, that's enough!" Tyler cuts in, his eyebrows furrowing but his eyes blazing as he takes a step up beside Caroline.

"Are you serious?" Damon asks at the same time, aiming his disbelief at Alaric.

Caroline's already frozen. Her eyes have widened in shock, caught off-guard. His words are a slap in the face and she almost feels winded from them. She knew he was angry, but she had thought that they understood each other. That they were on the same page for once. Not resorting back to throwing insults in each other's faces.

Her fingers dig into her palms as she just stares at him, trying to digest it while ignoring the burning in her eyes. As Alaric holds her stare, his expression falters, the weight of his words sinking in. Hands settle on her shoulders, gently pulling her back towards them as his eyes grow shinier with regret and a lump forms in her throat. 

Caroline allows herself to be turned around, catching a glimpse of Dorian clasping Alaric's shoulder and pulling him away. She faces Bonnie but she can't focus on her. She feels her hands slip from her shoulders down to her hands as she talks quietly to her. Something about getting some rest. 

She shakes her head. The last thing on her mind right now is resting, and really, she's not that tired. 

"No, no, I—" she swallows, finally blinking but ignoring the tears that slip, "—Lizzie will wake up at any second. I have to — I should be here when she wakes up. She needs...she shouldn't—"

"No one's telling you to go to sleep or leave her, love," Enzo says gently, at her side. "Just to...take a minute. It'll be better for her if you're a bit calmer, that's all. She's going to need you to be able to explain all of this, and you have to be level-headed for that."

She starts to shake her head again, closing her eyes as she tries to stop her head from spinning. It's all too much. Lizzie and Josie. Kai. Even Alaric. How is she supposed to rest for even a minute?

"Why don't you come with me to get a drink?" Kol suggests from her left, having snuck up to join them at some point. Most of the rest of them have hung back, staying out of it entirely, save for Damon who carefully hovers in case she needs him. She can't blame them for not wanting to be involved after the explosion that just went off.

"No, I can't—" Caroline immediately starts to protest.

"Caroline," Bonnie hushes her, giving her hands a gentle squeeze. She looks her in the eyes with that discreet look that's full of so much concern that she actually feels guilty for making her worry so much about her.

"You're starting to look unwell again," Kol explains quietly, leaning in closer as if sensing her apprehension about Alaric overhearing. "You won't be much use to your daughter if you're passed out from hunger when she wakes up. Come on, I could use something myself."

Caroline should try and argue again, but she just can't bring herself to fight him, or even Bonnie and Enzo who are still watching her with concern. She's sure she can even feel Tyler behind her, his worried stare burning holes in her back.

"Davina, darling, I'll be back in just a few minutes," Kol calls over to her as Bonnie drops Caroline's hands. "And, dear sister, please try and be polite while I'm away. No hexing, understand? No matter how tempting."

The last part is pointed for sure, and Caroline doesn't even have to look to know at who. She simply walks when Kol does, following him through the common room to the kitchen with a little direction from Tyler who knows the place like the back of his hand by now.

She catches Bonnie's eyes lingering on her the entire way, and she doesn't miss MG's uncertainty as he stands from his chair but doesn't move, glancing over at her like he wants to follow. 

Her own eyes shift to Alaric. Matt's hovering near him, patting his shoulder with a tight-lipped look. He's talking to Dorian, their heads bowed. Dorian's clearly trying to get Alaric to look at him, but he's stubborn, looking everywhere else with glistening eyes and shaking his head.

Her gaze drifts to Lizzie and Josie just before they leave her sight. Guilt and regret creep up on her like the hands of the skeletons in her closet. If she had just come home when she said she was going to, if they had just been honest, maybe everything would have been fine.

* * *

Alaric watches Caroline disappear with Kol into the kitchen out of the corner of his eyes. He's sure he messed up in something he said, and the regret is clawing at him, only making him feel worse. He can't bring himself to mull over it, though. The eyes of a few people burning holes into the back of his head with an intensity that he's sure would kill him if it could tell him all he needs to know for now.

"You need to calm down," Dorian whispers to him through clenched teeth as he continues trying to catch his eyes. He drops his hand from his shoulder. "Hey. Listen to me. Taking this out on Caroline is not going to help you, and don't even try and tell me it makes you feel better because I don't buy that."

That's where he's partially wrong. The argument somehow did ease a little bit of the weight sitting on top of his chest. Not by much, of course, but it helped him wind down from everything that's been coiled up inside of him, tight and pulling him in every direction. 

Even so, a touch of guilt tugs at him, refusing to let him just have this. It doesn't help that when he glances in MG, Landon, and Kaleb's direction, they all have that same look on their faces that they and every student did during the assembly when he announced how Triad managed to take over. His near slip with the whole vampire thing has clearly hurt at least two of them, even if Kaleb's acting like it was no big deal and is focusing instead on keeping MG facing him and him only. 

"Alaric," Dorian tries again, softer this time, a hint of understanding slipping into his voice.

"I'm fine," Alaric snaps despite it being far from the truth. He sighs, his eyes closing. "Maybe I lost it there, and maybe I shouldn't have taken it out like that. Alright? Just—" he shakes his head, turning away from him, "—I need a minute."

Dorian casts his eyes up, but he doesn't push him as he makes it clear he needs space. His head is still a spinning mess as he rakes his hands across his face that feels hard and cracked from the tracks of dried tears. The harsh reality of it all has sunk in already and yet it hasn't at all.

His words to Caroline echo back to him as Dorian sighs quietly but leaves him be, getting Matt to do the same. Josie is dead. Lizzie is going to turn. Kai's gotten exactly what he wanted, and the truth of that is well and truly sinking in. And yet, he can't bring himself to really believe it.

He thought he had lost them before, when Jo died. And then they were alive, growing inside of Caroline, and giving him his second — or third — chance at the family he wanted. If that can happen once, then it's hard for him to really believe that it can't happen again, somehow. Enzo and Tyler both came back from the dead perfectly fine.

He's willing to pay any price to any witch if it means Josie is alive again. And Lizzie...they can work through it. Her transition won't be a problem. He can adjust to her being a vampire if it means she's not gone forever. It would just be a case of trying to track the witch down again.

He sinks back to the ground, his back against the couch. He can't quite bring himself to look at them. It feels too much like what he imagines having his heart ripped out would feel like. It's agony.

Instead, he just sits there, leaning his head back, knowing that they're both there. His eyes flit over everyone in the room even as his mind strays to forming a plan. If Caroline isn't with him on it, then so be it. He's more than willing to do it alone. 

Freya has finally stepped away from the rest of them and seems to have decided to wait outside. He watches her leave after convincing Valerie to accompany her. He's guessing it doesn't take much to get her to leave the house that has to be reminding her of Stefan no matter where she looks. It's hard for him not to feel the same and be left with that touch of resentment that's never quite faded.

Davina seems to want to stay. She moves over to Bonnie, being intercepted by Tyler and Matt on the way. They talk in low voices but Alaric watches her mouth stretch into a strange smile before she says something. He catches the words "Hayley" and "good friends" being thrown around. 

Tyler's face falls, blanching. He quickly steps aside, pulling Matt with him over to a little corner of the room, by one of the tall bookcases lining the wall. Davina just smiles to herself, far more genuine, then steps to Bonnie who seems to be in some sort of worried daydream as she stares at Kai with narrowed eyes. 

Damon, Enzo, Kaleb — who appears to have deemed MG stable enough to be left with only Landon — and Stefanie seem to be caught up in some conversation or other. There are faint smiles involved and an air of security and something else surrounds them like a protective little bubble. Though, he doesn't miss Kaleb's eyes darting over in his direction every now and then. More accurately, Lizzie and Josie's. 

When he turns his head to his left, he finds Landon and MG sitting together, just outside of the common room but still in sight. By the looks of it, it's the furthest they're willing to stray. Alaric can't help but faintly think he should have just let them go and look for Rafael like they wanted to when he disappeared into the woods, but then he remembers it's a full moon, and that would have been irresponsible, as easier as it would have been for him.

Sighing under his breath, he just turns back to stare straight ahead. They were so close. They had found a way to undo this whole mess of a curse on the Gemini Coven. They were just hours away from finally getting what they wanted. 

He watches Bonnie and Davina without really focusing as they set Kai up against the wall Tyler threw him into. Their mouths are still moving, and Davina's shifting her hands in a way that makes him think they're discussing possible spells. Probably a security measure. 

There's a noise from the foyer, at the front door. He pays it no attention, even as footsteps sound against the wood of the floors. He just closes his eyes and wades through his thoughts, trying to pull them apart. He needs a clearer head, or else he's going to be of no help to Lizzie when she wakes up, or in finding some way to bring Josie back. 

A little voice in the back of his head urges him to go upstairs, to ask somebody about something. Who, he doesn't know. But there's just something telling him that it's what he should be doing, that there's usually someone who has a book or something that might be able to help, even if it's against his better judgement as a teacher.

Except he knows that isn't possible. No students at the school are capable of that kind of thing, and none of them would perform dark magic. None of them would even know; Grimoires or spellbooks containing such things are expressly forbidden.

He brushes it aside with a sinking feeling in his chest. If he can't find a way to fix this, then Kai is his only option. Making sure he suffers is the only thing that he can do for Josie now if that's the case. And no one's going to stop him.

* * *

Admittedly, Kol was right. After he tossed one of the school's blood bags at her and insisted she drink at least quarter of it, Caroline certainly feels a little better. At least in terms of not feeling like it's becoming an effort just to stay on her feet and having to close her eyes every few minutes because her head is starting to spin again.

Though, she's fairly certain that what she drank wasn't even close to human blood for some strange reason. She's still a little lightheaded, but she's a touch more grounded. At least enough to sit and process over it all better, slower. A strange thing to do with Kol Mikaelson sitting opposite her at the kitchen table of the Salvatore house. 

He hasn't tried to hold a conversation with her, and she's relieved by that, because she's genuinely not sure that she would have been able to form even one coherent sentence. He's just drinking in silence, throwing glances at her every now and then.

Even now, when she's simply playing with the little tube on the blood bag labelled with the Salvatore crest. Her heart clenches just looking at it. It's all over the school, she should be used to it by now. Seeing it warms a little crevice in her chest and makes her ache for the past at the same time. 

She looks away from it and her eyes are naturally drawn back toward the doorway leading into the common room. Conversations drift in, sharp and clear in her ears. Damon's voice, followed by Kaleb's. She brushes it off, focusing a little more carefully. 

A crease forms between her eyebrows at a familiar voice that hadn't been there before, but then Alaric jumps in, cutting her off. He's speaking to the voice, she realizes as she listens to him talk about the ascendant and loopholes.

There have been so many people to fill in on the details that she's sure she's heard the same words repeated over and over again far too many times in the last twenty-four hours. She doesn't want to hear it again. 

"You're not a monster, you know," Kol says abruptly, leaning a little across the table as she turns back to him. 

"What?" she asks in confusion, her brow furrowing, her mind still stuck on Alaric's voice.

"I know it's easy to let yourself think that," he goes on. "Trust me, I did. Even as an all-powerful Original, I was certain that my very existence was somewhat of an abomination in itself. Maybe not to the extent of dear Finn, but..."

It clicks in Caroline's head, and her confusion slips away. She looks down at the blood bag again, a knot forming in her stomach.

"Being a vampire doesn't make you a monster," he presses, his head tilting slightly as if trying to catch her gaze. He gives a slight shake of his head. "No matter what anyone may think or say. You can't let his opinions and prejudices affect how you see yourself, and your daughter is going to need to learn that from you as well. Especially since you're probably the least vampire-like vampire I've ever met."

Caroline can't quite suppress the noise of amusement that slips past her lips and she lifts her head to look at him with a puzzled expression, her eyebrows knitting together. 

"You don't go around killing people out of boredom like the worst of us tend to do," he explains with a hint of a smile. "You're actually fairly human for a vampire. It's somewhat refreshing, and is exactly what makes you the complete opposite of what Alaric thinks you are." His eyes flick up and down, softening in thought. "I think I understand why my brother loved you so dearly."

Caroline goes still, and the smile that had been forming on her lips slips away. It hits something inside of her and the feeling reverberates through her like waves on the ocean. Since she and Bonnie showed up at his and Davina's door, it's the first time either of them has mentioned Klaus out loud instead of merely implying.

It has a lump lodging itself in her throat and she tries to swallow around it. But he holds her gaze, a meaningful look in his eyes. The corners of her mouth start to curve back up slowly. She ducks her head, chewing on her bottom lip.

"You know, Klaus always did talk fondly of you," she tells him, looking back up at him. She raises a shoulder in a shrug and gives a mocking roll of her eyes. "I always thought you were a bit pretentious, personally, but..."

He chuckles, his eyebrows raising, and she presses her lips together, suppressing a smile.

"...he did love you."

"Oh, I know," he assures her. "The git always just enjoyed acting like he couldn't care less, but I knew deep down he loved me. I was clearly the fun sibling. He would have sent me off to sea in that bloody coffin long ago instead of keeping me around otherwise."

It's a joke, she knows, and she can't help but chuckle along with him this time. Another piece of her chest warms at it, and for a moment, it's easy to forget. All of it, everything that's going on, even if only pushed to the back of her mind in favour of this for just a flicker of a moment. 

It fades fast, though, and she looks back down at the table. Something tugs at her heart, trying to get her attention, make her aware of it. She takes a moment, uncertain, but Kol hasn't said anything else and he isn't making a move to leave.

"I'm sorry," she says quietly, keeping her eyes on the table. "About what happened to him. I had no idea if any of you knew, but he just...he came to me, begging me for help. I didn't want to, like I said. But I had never seen him so..." she shakes her head, her face twisting at the memory, "...so desperate and lost."

She lifts her gaze, looking at Kol. He's still watching her, but there's something unfocused about his expression. A small, sad smile flickers across his face, and he makes a quiet noise as if agreeing with her. 

"Yes, he was rather determined," he says, though here's a tug at his eyebrows, as if trying to remember the reason why but unable.

He seems to brush it aside, but Caroline does have to wonder the same thing now that she's thinking more on it.

"I don't blame you, Caroline," he sighs. "I just..."

He shakes his head, his shoulders dropping, and she understands. She gingerly lets go of the blood bag and reaches across the table, lightly touching his hand. He doesn't snatch it away but merely glances at it in surprise.

"Grief is hard," she finishes for him, shrugging with little effort put into the gesture. "We all deal with it in different ways. Sometimes...we just need someone or something to blame for it all, even if we don't really mean it. When it was my mom, I happened to blame myself, and then, the world. I was a perfectly valid option for you, and I get that. Honestly, I wish I hadn't helped him."

"It's Nik we're talking about," he reminds her. "The stubborn bastard would have found a way to do it anyway. We needed to rid ourselves of the Hollow, and you just happened to be the easiest and fastest way to do that. That's certainly not your fault, and really, you and those twins of yours probably saved all of us from that thing destroying us all."

Caroline's smile grows a little as he aims one of his own at her, but her heart sinks at the mention of her twins. Reality comes knocking back on the door, and the moment of blissful forget is gone.

"I'm sorry," Kol says now, his own words seeming to hit. "About your girls. It was...horrifying."

She can tell he's being sincere, that like the rest of them, he wishes that he had done something. But she didn't expect him to, and she can't say for sure that it would have made anything better. For all they know, it could have only sped it up or got more of them hurt. Or worse. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if they had come out all this way to help her only to end up losing their own life. 

She has to bite the inside of her cheek to stop the sting in her eyes from growing.

"We'll still perform the spell," he tells her when she remains silent, just staring at the flecks of wood ingrained in the table. "To undo whatever curse my aunt put on them. Well, Davina and Freya will. I suppose I'm mostly here for moral support."

"You're here to make sure we didn't kidnap your wife or your sister," Caroline says, lifting her eyebrows at him. 

He falters as if wanting to protest, argue that he trusts them far more now than he would have in the past. But they both know that's not true, or at least wasn't when she and Bonnie showed up at his door. She can't blame him, either; had the roles been reversed, there's no chance in hell she wouldn't have insisted on accompanying them.

"Well, _now_ I am merely moral support," he says instead, and holds her gaze. "For you, as well. Though, I do suppose that isn't all that comforting considering our history."

"I'm glad you're here," she repeats her words from the plane, meaning them now as much as she did then. "Really. Although, I can't entirely say the same for anyone else."

"Not to worry," he says, slipping back into that light-hearted tone. "I can easily charm my way into Tyler and Matt's good graces. It's gotten fairly easier I've noticed, although I suspect the fact that I'm married to Davina has something to do with that. And as for the lovely Dr Saltzman." He flashes her a devious grin that she's unfortunately familiar with. "Well, I have no qualms about bringing him down a peg or two."

Her eyes widen a touch and her mouth opens to protest. But he's already getting to his feet, pulling his hand from hers as he winks. He nods his head towards the doorway as he starts to walk away in a gesture for her to do the same. 

She rolls her eyes in mild exasperation but stands from her seat, knowing he won't make good on his threat, and bringing the empty blood bag with her. She's sure to toss it into the right disposal before they leave the room and walk back out into the common room to join everyone else. Part of her can't help but self-consciously run her tongue along her teeth and swipe at the corners of her mouth with her thumb, just to make sure. 

"Ah, Elena," Kol greets upon both of them spotting her across the room. "I was wondering when you would rejoin us. No Jeremy? Shame. I was hoping to see him. It's been a few months."

Elena shoots him a weird look, but her eyes are glassy and she quickly turns to Caroline. Straight away, she can tell that she's already been filled in on what's happened. Her rushing over to her and folding her into an almost crushing hug only confirms it for her. 

Caroline relaxes into her arms instantly. It feels like she's been getting hugged a lot in the last two hours, and it would exhaust her with the memories of her mom's funeral, but all she can feel is comforted by the knowledge that they're here.

"I am so sorry, Care," Elena whispers into her hair. 

Caroline doesn't respond. She simply hugs her tighter, burying her face in her shoulder for a moment to snuff the tears before they can start to fall again. She then props her head on Elena's shoulder, sniffling as she throws a quick glance over the room. 

There's no sign of Freya or Valerie she notices when she pulls back, not quite letting go of Elena as she holds onto her hands. By the looks of it, Elena's first instinct upon arriving was to check over Bonnie and Enzo with their bloodstained shirts, the actual areas of the wounds looking considerably less bloody. Even Stefanie's wounds from the shards of glass that she overheard were the cause seem to have had a closer look at.

"You know I'm here for you," Elena adds with a squeeze of her hands, her voice filled with the same sincerity that it's carried over all of the years that they've been doing this.

Caroline smiles gently at her and nods back, about to let her know that she's incredibly grateful for her being there. She's beaten to it before she can get even one word out. 

"Aw," Kai sighs, his voice groggy and still weak despite that cheerful little note that makes her sick to her stomach. "Look at this little reunion. Isn't this nice?"

They all turn to look over at him, some jumping to their feet, all of them alert. He's chained to the wall, she notices now, and the part of her that reminds her they're in a school full of kids wonders if maybe they should have thrown him in the dungeons before he woke back up. 

It's too late now, of course. But the chains seem magically suspended and look as if they're wrapped tight enough around him for him to not be able to pull another escape. She's hoping, anyway. 

"Honestly, I wasn't expecting a _party_ for my welcome home," he says, seemingly oblivious to their icy glares. Either that, or he truly doesn't care. Caroline's certain it's the latter as he tilts his head, glancing around them all with unfocused eyes and an air of nonchalance that makes her blood boil. "This is a nice surprise. Especially you, Elena."

Caroline feels Elena's hands tense in her own. This is the first time she's seen him since the wedding, and she's got a feeling that it isn't bringing back too many fond memories. 

"You know, I have to ask: how did you get past that curse?" he asks, glancing from her to Bonnie as his eyebrows knit together. "I was so sure that there wasn't a single loophole you could try without it killing you, and yet — here you both are. I couldn't believe it when those kids of yours told me. But hey, I guess nothing's ever really permanent for us, right?"

"I'm going to rip your throat out," Tyler growls, his eyes flashing yellow again. 

Matt and Dorian are quick to catch him by his shoulders, hauling him back before he can get too close. They hold him firmly in place as Kai has the audacity to laugh at the threat. 

"Oh, I remember now why Liv liked you," he says to him.

It's a low blow. Tyler's eyes flash with more than just a ring of yellow that doesn't seem to be fading in the slightest. He growls again, the noise far less human this time. Caroline's certain she can see him starting to shift and knows that if he does, there's no pulling him back while the full moon's still out. If he loses control now, in a school filled with vampires, it won't end well. 

"You need to be quiet," she snaps at Kai, quickly stepping forward, past Tyler.

She's aware of Matt hushing him and telling him to breathe as she stares at Kai. He stares right back, wide-eyed and _gleeful _as he feigns surprised puzzlement. He was already infuriating enough without the addition of pretending he doesn't know what he's done wrong.

"The only reason that you aren't dead right now is because, for some strange and twisted reason, my daughter actually wanted to protect you."

"Aw, so you're not gonna kill me? How sweet," Kai says, grinning at her.

He's quick to shift his attention to Alaric, still standing by the couch but staring over at him with disgust and burning hatred.

"How do you feel about that? I'm surprised you're so willing to let me go. I mean, I did sort of destroy your life."

Caroline would think Alaric was just as much a werewolf as Tyler by the noise he makes in the back of his throat and the way his eyes blaze so brightly she's sure she can see golden flames burning in them. He goes to move forward as well, but then there's Elena at his side, gently taking his arm. 

Caroline catches his eyes, shooting him a look that she hopes conveys her unspoken message. She isn't entirely sure if he understands it or not, but he stops all the same, even if it's against every instinct in his body.

"Oh-ho, I see I've caused some tension," Kai says, the delight shining in his voice. "Hit a few nerves? Ah, I love when I do that."

"Seriously," Caroline grits out through her teeth, "stop talking."

"But where would be the fun in that?" he asks in mock confusion as he draws his eyebrows together.

"Alright, I'm killing him," Damon announces and pulls another stake from behind his back like magic. 

He moves forward at a pace faster than humans should be able to even as one himself, his eyes set on Kai as he raises his arm. Kai's eyes widen, the colour quickly draining out of his face to the point where he actually looks as dead as he should be. Caroline hesitates to do anything for just a split second, her mind flashing through what would happen if she just let him kill him and let it all finally be over with.

"Josie's not dead!" Kai shouts in clear panic, a last-ditch attempt as his self-preservation instincts kick in, just as Caroline spins around and snatches the stake from Damon's hands. 

Caroline goes still. Everything in the room seems to stop all over again, time standing still. No one even dares to breathe. She slowly turns back around, and all eyes are on Kai now.

"What?" Alaric breathes out, the unwillingness to believe a single word that comes out of his mouth written all over his face.

"You're lying," Caroline says, eyeing him with just as much distrust, but she heard the unmistakable ring of sincerity in his voice. "You killed her."

"_No_—no, I killed Lizzie," Kai corrects her, holding a finger up as best he can from underneath the chains wrapped around his torso, limiting his movements. He looks between them, shaking his head. "But I gave Josie some of my blood earlier, back in the prison world. She isn't dead. Well, not technically. She's transitioning."

If it could, Caroline swears the entire universe stops. It's like all of the air has been sucked from her lungs like a vacuum. The first thought that crosses her mind is that he has to be spinning them some web of lies so that they'll let him go.

But he would know that lying right now wouldn't make anything better for him. He wouldn't be doing himself any favours by making it up, and as much as she hates it, Kai doesn't lie. Not really. He manipulates and he twists, but right now, in this very moment as she tries to recall every interaction she's ever had with him, she is sure that he has never lied. 

"Why should we believe you?" Alaric voices for her, unable to get her own words. "What reason would you have to give Josie your blood? And, what's the point in killing her knowing that she has it in her system?"

"That's exactly why he did it," Bonnie says quietly.

Caroline turns to look at her, and Bonnie lifts her head, glancing from Kai to her then to Alaric and back again. 

"Turning her was perfect," she goes on, the loathing clear and sharp like a knife in her voice now. "He didn't want competition for leader of the Gemini Coven, and for all we know, turning at least one of the twins into heretics means that the merge won't be able to work while the curse will still affect them. He'll have gotten what he wanted and ruined their lives, as well as yours by turning one of your daughters into something you never wanted for either of them."

Caroline digests her words as Kai stares at Bonnie with that awestruck sort of look on his face, as if fascinated and impressed by her theory and logic. Bonnie just glares right back at him.

"It wasn't even my idea, to be honest," Kai says, drawing Caroline out of her head to stare at him, taking in the smug look on his face. "See, Josie was so sure that becoming a vampire would somehow stop the merge from having to happen. She was just so desperate for a way to save poor Lizzie, who — apparently, they both knew would have lost the merge, by the way."

Caroline falters, giving a slight shake of her head, but her eyebrows draw together. She hadn't known that they had even been thinking about the outcome of the merge. They know which one of them was more powerful? She didn't even consider the possibility that they would try and find their own way to stop it.

"So desperate..." Kai slowly leans forward, his chains straining, holding him in place as he shifts his eyes between her and Alaric, trying to get under their skins and succeeding, "...that she asked me to turn her."

The anger that had sizzled out bursts back to life in Caroline, clenching her teeth. "And of course, you jumped at the chance."

"Well, duh," Kai scoffs, shaking his head. "My niece asked me for a favour, how was I going to say no?"

"Don't you dare even try and act like you care about them," Alaric hisses, and Elena's other hand flies out, quickly pulling his wrist back as he moves as if to attack. "You did this for yourself, not for them!"

"Is it really so hard to believe that I would want to do something nice for my dear, sweet nieces?" Kai asks, tilting his head and blinking his eyes up at him as if he's genuinely hurt by the accusation.

"How did snapping my neck help them?" Kaleb retorts from Caroline's left, arching an eyebrow at him.

Kai hesitates, his mouth opening then quickly closing, giving his best attempt at a shrug.

"Alright, so that was more for me and because you annoyed me," he admits, and Kaleb scoffs as Kai turns his attention back on Caroline and Alaric. "But I was only trying to help them when you really think about it. They wanted a way out of the merge, and so I gave them one. Though, it's a real shame that I had to actually kill Lizzie for it. She clearly didn't trust me enough to go through with it, and Josie insisted on not telling her I was going to turn her until after it was done."

The realization of what he's saying kicks in at last, and Caroline's heart drops. She quickly turns, looking over at Alaric. His eyes widen and meet hers as it passes between them. Neither of them are dead. Lizzie and Josie are alive.

Before another word can be spoken, there's a gasp. Lizzie sits bolt upright on the couch, her hands grabbing tightly at it as she stares straight ahead, sucking in as much air as she can in one breath. Everyone whips around to stare at her, silence instantly falling over the room.

The relief swoops in right away. For a moment, Caroline had considered the possibility that Kaleb's blood hadn't worked somehow and that she was really just dead. But she's alive, heaving in gasps of air with wide eyes, trying to collect herself.

Kai's head tilts, his eyebrows drawn in a frown as he stares at her. "Well, that's unexpected."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arguments and more drama. I mean, what else did you expect from me, really? And PLOT TWIST! Maybe Josie and Lizzie are both alright after al. Or has Kai decided to choose now to become a liar? Please, tell me all of your thoughts, and please don't kill me for Alaric and Caroline's argument! ❤


	24. Don't make this harder than it has to be

All around her is darkness. No noise, not even the quietest of ones, and not a thing in sight. Lizzie can recall the last few seconds. Kai's not so surprising betrayal. A sharp pain her neck. Fear. Then a freezing sensation in every part of her body. He snapped her neck. 

This is what death is, she decides. Being conscious of her own being but unable to do anything. Just having to live out the rest of eternity in nothingness, being swallowed up by the black abyss surrounding her no matter where she tries to look. It's almost exactly what she was imagining from all of the descriptions of Malivore. This is most definitely hell, except, she would much rather flaming pits of torture over nothing at all. 

Then, it's like a thick fog dissolves. A low hum of muffled noise fills her head, sounding distant like waking up from a dream. She can't quite make any of it out, but something shifts around her, inside of her. There's a tugging her chest and deep in her stomach, forcing her to notice it as it climbs into her throat.

The noises sharpen a little, and she can finally feel again, far more aware of herself. Her chest suddenly tightens, her throat constricting in on itself. The need for air grabs at her and claws her throat.

She gasps, sucking in air, her hands already scrabbling against the surface underneath her to push herself upright. Her eyes fly open, staring straight ahead as the air soothes her burning lungs. It's only temporary though, and she quickly draws in another breath the second she pushes the last out, trying to calm her racing heart as she repeats it.

Part of her vaguely registers a voice speaking, familiar and sending a chill through her body. Except, her entire body already feels like it's been dunked into an ice bath and left to sit for at least a century already.

Someone's by her side in an instant as she tries to get herself to focus. All she can do is stare at the wall in front of her, movement catching in the corner of her eyes. Everything's so bright that she quickly blinks then has to squint in an attempt to block it out. 

"Lizzie. Lizzie, hey," her mom's voice speaks to her, right beside her, and she's sure that she can see her dad at the other end of the couch she seems to be on. There's a hand on her arm, another on her face, making her turn her head before she can even register that she's complying. "Look at me, sweetie. You're okay."

She's shaking her head the second the words pass her mom's lips, her eyebrows furrowing. Something fights her mind, trying to push its way to the front, and she does everything she can to grasp hold of it, but it's too far back and she can't quite keep it long enough.

"No, it's not," she says all the same, because she can feel it, deep inside of her. "Something's wrong."

Her eyes finally focus on her mom rather than merely peering at a blurred silhouette of her. She shares a look with her dad, meaningful and telling enough that they practically confirm it for her without even needing to say a word.

"I...I died," Lizzie says slowly, and panic quickly scales her throat, mingling with the burning itch at the back of it, "didn't I?"

"Yeah, which — speaking of," her eyes snap to Kai, and she barely takes in the sight of him chained up against the wall, "how exactly are you alive? I definitely didn't mean to turn you. Was it a protection spell?"

She stares at him, disbelief quickly kicking in. Honestly, she was sort of hoping to wake up and find him gone. That all of it was just a bad dream, even, but there he is, and everything from the last few hours comes rushing back to her like a flood.

His words settle in her mind at last, kicking her heart rate up. The panic must show on her face because her mom's hand tightens a little on her arm, dragging her attention back to her. Not fast enough, though, and she realizes why she's been trying so hard to keep her eyes on her as they land instead on the other end of the couch. She finally notices Josie, laid opposite her. Her eyes are closed and she isn't moving. Not even a slight twitch of her chest as she draws in a slow breath.

"Oh my god," she whispers, her heart dropping as the realization hits her full force like a swing of a baseball bat. "No. No, she's not—" she looks at her mom and dad, her eyes wide, "—tell me she's not...?"

"Lizzie, just breathe," her dad quickly says, taking her hand in between both of his, "let us explain."

But she barely registers what he says, her eyes back on Josie as she shakes her head in disbelief. The lights in the room flicker and her whole body feels like it's vibrating, but she doesn't notice. She should have seen this coming, even if her vision at the moment is blurring faster than her heart is beating. She knew they couldn't trust Kai, that's why she made Kaleb give her some of his blood, to ensure that nothing could catch them off guard.

A light blows out as the tears fall from her eyes. The plan had been to get Josie away from Kai, or to somehow sneak her some of Kaleb's blood as well if she could manage to convince her that it was for her own safety. A protection spell was even her first option, but then everything went wrong, and now Josie's dead. If she had just—

Josie gives a twitch, her shoulder shifting the slightest bit. Lizzie goes still, the first sob that had been about to claw its way out gets caught, silencing her. She watches with wide eyes, searching for another little sign that she's wrong as the lights come to a halt around them.

As if perfectly on cue, she catches movement in Josie's hand, subtle but there. Then her eyelids twitch as well, and her lips part to let in a breath. A second later and her chest is heaving as she sucks the air in deeper.

Their dad's reaching over, at her side in an instant. Josie's eyes start to flutter open. Relief and confusion both twist at Lizzie as Josie seems to wake, slowly coming back to them. 

"Jo?" she breathes, leaning forward and taking her hand. She watches her stir, her breathing ragged and weak. "Jo."

It takes a moment, but Josie's eyes open all the way as she blinks slowly, and she draws in a deep gulp of air. She's sitting up in an instant, eyes wide and wild. Lizzie can feel her racing heartbeat through her own as well as from the pulse in her wrist.

Unlike Lizzie's first instinct, Josie does a quick sweep of the room as her chest rises and falls right back down. She stiffens upon seeing Kai. There's something about his expression that makes Lizzie uneasy. An odd smirk of a smile twists his mouth in acknowledgement.

"Hey — Josie," her dad says, quickly drawing her attention to himself. "You're okay. See? Everything's fine. We are right here, Josie. Right here."

Josie's eyes move between him and their mom carefully as she seems to register that it's real and she is, in fact, not dreaming as Lizzie suspects she had been assuming as well. Then, her head turns, and her gaze locks onto her.

Something shifts in her expression instantly, and Lizzie can only describe the look on her face as silently voicing her own exact emotions as if their twin connection has somehow made that possible. The relief overpowers any confusion that might spark in her eyes for just a split second. 

"You're okay," Josie says as if her heart would have shattered otherwise. "You're okay. How are you okay?"

She doesn't wait for her answer as she practically lunges herself forward and onto Lizzie, wrapping her up tightly in a hug that should hurt. But it's the last thing to prove to her that Josie really is alive, and she collapses into it. Josie does the same as the relief fully washes over both of them like the sea carrying a ship onto shore. 

They're home. Everything's okay. They're both alive. Lizzie doesn't even care that she can barely breathe with Josie's arms wrapped so tightly around her shoulders. The empty space in her chest that had been carving itself out the second she figured out what was going on is quickly filled back up with a warm, familiar presence.

"Kaleb," Lizzie breathes in answer to her shoulder, and she can't help but seek him out now.

She finds him on the other end of the room, standing with his family and watching them with wide eyes full of shock. Something passes between them and his shoulders drop down with a breath of relief.

"He gave me some of his blood in the prison world because we didn't trust Kai, but — how are you alive right now?"

"That would be thanks to me," Kai pipes back up, wiggling his fingers from underneath the chains as they pull apart to look over at him. He flashes them a grin as if it's the most selfless act he's ever committed. "You're welcome, by the way."

"What part of shut the hell up are you seriously not getting?" her aunt Bonnie snaps at him, and her uncle Damon's already pressing a stake underneath his chin, forcing his head up. 

Kai has the nerve to give a breathless little laugh in response but stays quiet otherwise, glancing at the stake. A small drop of blood rolls down his neck from where it's pressed.

"What exactly are we doing with him again?" her uncle Enzo asks, turning to look between her parents with an arched eyebrow. "Not that I'm pushing you to make your decision right away or anything, but the sooner the better."

Her mom opens her mouth to answer, though she glances uncertainly at her dad. She doesn't get too far past faltering and trying to form a coherent sentence before the reality of it all seems to finally hit Josie. 

"Wait, so, we both died with vampire blood in our system?" she asks, her eyes narrowing for a split second before growing as she quickly looks between them, then to Lizzie, and back again. "We're both...?"

"Transitioning," Lizzie finishes for her in a small voice. Something shifts inside of her, and suddenly the relentless itch in the back of her throat and how empty she feels makes sense. 

She swallows, a lump forming in her throat. It hadn't actually occurred to her what would happen if she died with Kaleb's blood in her system. Not really. She hadn't really let it sink in. Her heart is beating surprisingly fast for someone who's supposed to be dead and in limbo to becoming a vampire.

"Oh my god," they both breathe out at the same time.

"You know, it's actually not so bad," Kai says despite the threat of having his windpipe impaled with a sharp wooden stick. "For us, it's actually pretty cool. We still get to keep our powers, plus we have a constant source to siphon from, so—"

Her uncle Damon applies pressure to the stake and whatever else Kai was going to say turns into a choked noise as a few more drops of blood roll down his throat. His skin even seems to lose another shade of its already pale complexion. Lizzie thinks he actually looks sick. 

"Seriously, we have to do something with him," her uncle Tyler says. "My bite will keep him weak and might kill him in a few hours, but I say we just get this over with now. Take him down to the dungeons, throw his ass back in the prison world before anyone else sees him or he causes any more problems for us."

"Wait, you bit me?" Kai asks, turning his head to look up at him as if he isn't even aware of the stake anymore. He relaxes as his eyebrows raise an inch or two. "That actually explains a lot."

Lizzie realizes that must be the cause of his sickly appearance. She scans him discreetly, trying to locate the bite without really paying attention. Peeking out from underneath the collar of his shirt is a dent in his skin — a few, in fact, and all of them are close together, seemingly forming a circle of sorts.

She's certain the area — what she can see of it, anyway — is slowly turning grey, little veins crawling across the surface, trying to get to the other side to reach his heart. She knows how werewolf bites work; even witches have to take _Lycanthropy 101_ or whatever it's called, just in case. He'll be dead in a couple of hours. If he were still a siphoner, then he could just—

Her eyebrows are drawn into a confused frown, Kai's previous words hitting her. "You're still a siphoner?"

"See? This is what I mean," Kai says with a shake of his head, directing his words at her parents instead. "You literally run a school for supernatural kids, which — _awesome_, by the way. But your own kids don't even know what would happen if they became vampires? It's not like I'm a one-off — I saw Valerie back there."

"Can I please stake him now?" Uncle Damon practically begs. 

"Not yet," her mom says, and Lizzie's eyes snap to her in surprise. Hearing her talk about killing people isn't something she's all that used to unless she was telling them little bits and pieces of her past. It's... strange, to say the least.

"We didn't want them getting any ideas," her dad snaps, ignoring her uncle Damon completely. "Thinking that turning themselves into vampires would save them from the merge once we told them."

Kai's eyebrows raise, and Lizzie glances at Josie. The surprise shows on her face as well, but there's a flicker of something else that Lizzie can't quite read. She's been trying to get better at reading her emotions but she hasn't quite mastered it yet. She's wishing she had started sooner so that she could pinpoint what it is that's making Josie look down like that.

"But...that's exactly what happened," Kai says with confusion that seems far too exaggerated to be genuine. His mouth stretches humourlessly, giving a slight chuckle. "I mean, they even came to _me _for help. I think that says a lot about how well your plan worked out."

"I swear—" Uncle Damon warns through gritted teeth, pressing the stake harder against his throat until Lizzie is positive she actually sees and hears it rip a small hole in his throat.

"You're not gonna kill me, Damon," Kai says, rolling his eyes, giving up his act. "First of all, out of everyone in this room right now, you're the one with the smallest grudge to hold, really, and I don't see Alaric or Bonnie letting you do it when they would clearly rather do it themselves."

Everyone in the room seems to pause. Uncle Damon turns, glancing over his shoulder from one of them to the other, and even Lizzie can tell that he's right. Knowing what she now does, she can't say she's surprised. A muscle visibly tightens in his jaw, though, and he doesn't pull the stake back even an inch or loosen his white-knuckled hold on it. 

"And, if you _were _going to, I would be dead already," Kai points out with a raise of his eyebrows. "Which, I'm clearly not, despite the fact that you could have easily staked me while I was passed out and at your full mercy. Instead, you chained me up and, I'm presuming put some sort of paralysis spell on me since I can't really move anything except my head and my hands."

He looks to her aunt Bonnie for confirmation, and the unfamiliar witch next to her shifts uncomfortably, her arms folded over her chest. Even she's wearing that narrow-eyed look of irritation and loathing. It looks like even people that don't know Kai don't like him.

That's assuming she doesn't know him, of course. Something about her seems faintly familiar for some reason, and now that she's thinking about it, the tall man standing just behind her as well. But Lizzie is certain that now is not the time to be questioning it, no matter how sure she is that their names are right on the tip of her tongue despite never meeting them. She thinks, anyway. 

"So, clearly," Kai looks around at them with the smuggest smirk on his face, and as if it's the most obvious thing in the world, says, "none of you are going to kill me. And I'm guessing I have a certain newly-turned heretic niece of mine to thank for that, what with her little speech about my redemption and all."

He turns his head, looking over at Josie. Lizzie's grip on her hand tightens, and her other moves to her arm, wanting to pull her back. She never saw her get her neck snapped, nor did she see the betrayal that Josie must have felt in that moment, but every instinct inside of her wants desperately to protect her from it happening again. 

"It was moving, truly," Kai says with a sincerity in his voice that makes Lizzie sick to her stomach. "Really touching that you think so highly of me and my ability to become a better person. As naive and pointless as it was since I killed you right after, but — it really meant a lot to me, as your uncle."

Josie doesn't respond. She's just staring at him, frozen like a statue, her lips pressed together tightly. Lizzie knows that it's not how their connection works, but she's sure that she can feel a stab of hurt in her chest. It only twists her up inside with guilt; she should never have given Kai the chance to manipulate her to this point. 

Turning her eyes back on him, she decides to respond for her as she shakes her head. "You're sick," she says with disgust.

"Well, considering the werewolf venom in my system right now, I'd have to agree with you," Kai says, and Lizzie honestly isn't even sure if he understood that's not what she meant. He looks away from her, his eyebrows drawing together. "I am starting to feel a bit...light-headed. Think it's finally kicking in."

"Good," her uncle Tyler snaps at him, a bark to his voice. He nods his head towards him, catching her uncle Damon's eyes. "Make sure he doesn't siphon it out of himself this time. He should suffer."

Her uncle Damon presses the stake a little harder against his throat and Kai holds his hands up as far as he can, away from any other part of him as a show of cooperation. He even tilts his head back the tiniest bit more, away from the stake as if he's finally realizing the danger he's in.

"Care," her aunt Bonnie says, looking over at her mom with an apologetic look on her face. "We need to make a decision. We can't keep him chained up here forever."

"I would suggest the transformation spaces in the basement while we decide, but—" A howl interrupts her as if perfectly timed, muffled but loud enough for them to hear the whimpering growl of a noise. She sighs. "The full moon means they're at full capacity."

"Here's a great idea," Kai says with as little movement as he can, his voice slightly strained from the stake jabbing into his windpipe. "You could just undo the spell you put on me, unchain me, and I'll be on my way. You won't have to worry about me! I will be out of Mystic Falls and out of your lives. Promise."

There's something completely insincere about the way he says that last part. Lizzie's stomach twists and so many different scenarios of what would happen if they were to let him go like he said flashes through her mind.

Massacres across the country, him draining every innocent person he comes across. Not making good on his promise, and sticking around Mystic Falls, driving fear into them at not knowing if he's going to be there every time they turn a corner or take a midnight walk around the campus. Everyone she loves dying at his hands. 

"Caroline," her dad says, and they pass a cryptic look between them. 

Her mom presses her lips together in a firm line, something flashing across her face. There's a glint in her eyes when she glances at them. The doubt and uncertainty are written into her expression, the internal debate she's having laid out for them to see. She's always had a hard time keeping her feelings hidden. 

"You can't seriously be considering that," Lizzie blurts out before she can stop herself, the panic taking over. The images of what could happen are still flashing in her mind, blood everywhere and the snap of necks echoing in her head. 

"No, no, we're not," her mom quickly assures, giving her arm a light squeeze. She then hesitates, though, her eyes flicking back to her dad with that uncertainty and cryptic look again. It seems as if her words are aimed at him as well for some reason.

Everyone in the room is quiet, looking at each other. Lizzie is positive that she missed something while she was out. She frowns. They were all on the same page when they were outside. Admittedly, that page made her stomach clench and feel a bit like throwing up, even if she didn't voice it, but still. What changed?

She shifts her gaze to Josie. She's barely moved since she woke up. Her eyes almost seem glazed over, unfocusing on anything that's happening around them. Her hand's still in Lizzie's, but other than that, she's practically unresponsive.

Lizzie can't help but be concerned, especially by just how pale she seems now that she's really looking. A side-effect to being dead, she's sure, and yet, worry claws at her from the inside, refusing to be pushed aside. She's got a feeling she knows why everyone's suddenly so hesitant to act. 

"Jo," she says gently, drawing her mom and dad's attention. She tilts her head, trying to catch her eyes. "What do you think?"

She doesn't want to ask, but she's pretty sure it's the only thing holding everyone back, and neither her mom nor her dad seems so keen on voicing it out loud. But Josie just stares straight ahead as if she didn't hear her. For a moment, Lizzie isn't sure if she did.

Out of the corner of her vision, she thinks she catches MG taking a slow step toward them from the entrance. Josie then straightens up a little, swallowing as she seems to pull herself together enough to think. The question is written all over her face as she tries to find the right answer. Lizzie isn't so sure that there is a right answer to this. 

The thought of killing Kai, which she knows is exactly what everyone wants to do, actually makes her a little queasy. She may talk a big game and all, and Dana's death didn't entirely faze her, but... this somehow feels different. She wouldn't protest, but she doesn't think she could handle watching it happen. 

But her fear at what he would do if they let him go far outweighs any nausea that the alternative would cause. Her discomfort and sudden change of relationship with death isn't good enough reason to let him walk free. It can't even be an option. 

A beat passes, and Lizzie watches a strange sort of blankness seep into Josie's eyes, clouding any doubt or something even close to being sympathy from view entirely. It's unfamiliar and has her heart leaping into her throat. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wonders how her heart is managing to beat so fast.

At last, Josie answers, speaking to no one in particular. "I don't care," she says bluntly, her voice low but ringing sincere with its otherwise lack of emotion. "Do whatever you want. I just don't want to see him."

True to her word, she turns away from Kai at once. She curls into Lizzie, who immediately holds onto her as her stomach drops. Josie doesn't say another word, simply hiding from the rest of the world in Lizzie's arms as if nothing else matters anymore other than that she's alive. 

Lizzie doesn't know what to do. She catches the shock passing across almost everyone's faces, and she's sure that her own is mirroring it right back. She looks at her mom and dad and raises a shoulder in a helpless shrug. They'll have to make the decision on their own.

They share a long look as everyone waits, the air thick and heavy and hard to breathe in through the tension. A moment passes then something shifts. Lizzie can't pinpoint what exactly. The look on her mom's face twists and her dad seems to understand. Whatever it may be, Lizzie can tell they're in agreement for possibly the first time in Lizzie's entire life.

She just holds Josie, trying not to think on it. Her parents look over at the others in the room, but Lizzie ducks her head. It's partially to avoid how blinding the usually soft glow of the lights are, but also so that she doesn't get the chance to figure out what decision they've made. 

* * *

Josie hadn't thought much about death, in truth. Though, since finding out about the merge, it's certainly cropped up in her mind every now and then, like an annoying little woodpecker that won't stop pecking away at her happiness and peace. She hadn't really expected it to be so disorienting.

She knows she isn't really dead. More like in the halfway stage between life and death. A limbo of sorts. That's what vampires are, she supposes. Forever stuck between being alive and being undead, in their own personal supernatural limbo.

It doesn't seem to bother any of the ones she's met, especially her mom. If anything, they always somehow seem more alive than anyone else. And honestly, she feels fine. For the most part.

If it weren't for how bright everything seems to be, and how loud every little noise is. She can barely bring herself to focus on what anyone's saying, and she has no idea how Lizzie's doing it so well. Her head hurts and is a mess of thoughts, and every little feeling inside of her feels so much worse than she remembers it feeling earlier.

She closes her eyes against the lights of the room and buries her face into Lizzie's shoulder, snuffing out any lingering shadows. Everything's heightened. She remembers that being one of the things about becoming a vampire. Except, she had thought that this part came after transitioning. 

And yet, all she can do is _feel_. Kai's betrayal cuts deeper as if it's sawing right through her rib cage and through her heart without even stopping for a second, completely uncaring. Her throat is raw and burning, and it's like she's swallowed a mouthful of sand. The hunger is the worst part. 

It's as if she's been starving for days, the feeling tearing at her stomach and itching in her throat. She's heard what it's like before from the vampires in the school. She can remember every little detail MG described to her during one of their late-night talks by the window. The hunger never really goes away.

The noises around her seem to grow for a moment, and she can't help but listen to the rattle of chains and footsteps on the wooden floors, loud and piercing through her mind. She listens to what she presumes is Kai being hauled up and having his mouth covered as he starts to speak only for it to turn into a muffled noise.

Her dad tells them they'll be back in a few minutes in that soft, gentle voice that always used to soothe her. It still does, but it's not enough this time. She doesn't respond, but she feels Lizzie shift slightly as if nodding.

A moment passes with the sound of more footsteps, becoming considerably more muffled with each step away until she's sure that they can't be in the same room anymore. It's quiet, and yet not at all quiet at the same time, and every little thing is grating on her ears and in her mind. 

Even with that, she knows they're not alone. She can feel it, the presence of other people closeby. No wonder she could never sneak up on MG; he would greet her with a bright grin without even turning around and always told her it was a perk of being a vampire, but she never realized the extent of it.

Lizzie unwraps her arms from around her with a quiet mumble of something that sounds like agreement. Josie doesn't want to move, but she lifts her head a little all the same, peering up at her in confusion. There's a gentle tap on her right shoulder and she turns her head to look up at MG instead.

He's standing behind the couch, looking at her with slightly raised eyebrows. Worry lines his features, and a hint of fear has clung to the depths of his expression. That's all almost overshadowed by the gentle smile playing on his lips.

"Hey," he greets softly, the nods his head to the side, toward the window, "wanna come sit with me?"

She can see how red his eyes are, the little veins of being bloodshot, and how they glisten ever so slightly. Her heart aches at the thought of him crying, especially if it was because of everything that's happened. She should have told someone her plan, should have at least confided in Lizzie so that she would know what was going on. She hadn't expected Kai to act on it before she asked him to.

"Yeah," she manages to say, then coughs, clearing her throat from the scratchy feeling at the back. She nods and untangles herself, climbing off the couch.

MG's smile grows by a flicker and he walks with her over to the window. Her limbs feel strangely heavy with every movement, but she pushes through it until she's able to collapse down onto the sill that was cushioned a few years in per her request as she'd already claimed it a good place to sit just to think.

He takes a seat opposite of her, both of them tucked up in the little corner of the room. She glances around as he settles down, and only spots Kaleb, Landon, and Stefanie in the room with them and Lizzie. Everyone else has left with the exception of Dorian who seems to have taken to pacing in the foyer.

A hand on her knee draws her attention back. It takes everything in her not to jerk her leg back; she wouldn't have been able to anyway with the wall behind her, but the instinct is still strong.

MG quickly lifts his hand, holding both of them up as if in surrender, his eyes wide. Guilt immediately tugs at her at the look on his face. He was just trying to be kind and comfort her, and here she is making him feel like he's doing something wrong.

"Sorry," she mutters, tugging at the edges of her sleeves and pulling them down over her hands. There's still a few shards of glass stuck in the material, she notices. "Just jumpy."

His expression morphs into one of understanding and he relaxes. As she tries to do the same, resting her arms on top of her knees, careful of the glass, his eyes flick up and down her and he seems to hesitate on something. 

"It's gonna be okay," he tells her, and she knows what he's referring to without him even needing to state it. "This is just the transitioning part. When..." something seems to bring him to a sudden halt, a dark shadow of something she can't quite read crossing his face, "...if you decide to feed, it'll start getting better."

The"if" hangs between them, even though it was clear MG was trying to pass over it. If she feeds. If she decides she doesn't want to die but instead become a vampire. 

This is what she wanted. It's not a hard decision for her to make, but it still feels that way. The reality of it all is weighing far heavier than she had anticipated, hitting like running into a brick wall. She wanted this. To turn, to put an end to the merge and the whole curse. Lizzie wasn't supposed to die along with her. None of this feels right.

MG shifts forward a little, his head dipping to try and catch her unfocused gaze. "Do you...wanna talk about it? I mean, it's a pretty big decision, and I get that you might not want to make it right now, but..."

He shakes his head but doesn't continue, and she knows why. His eyes are glistening brighter now, illuminated by the soft stream of moonlight cast across half of his face. There's a lost, scared look in them as a tear slips from the corner, clearly doing his best to keep it back for a while. 

"I thought you were gone, Josie," his voice cracks, and her heart along with it, "I — I thought you were dead, and I...I would never try and force you into being like me. Whatever you decide is up to you, but...Jo, I thought I lost you, and I just can't—"

She quickly shifts on the sill to wrap her arms around him. He doesn't hesitate to hug her back, his hands curling around her shoulders from behind. He holds onto her as if she's going to vanish into thin air in his arms, and she hates it. She just sits there, holding onto him. 

Tilting her head to the side to lean on his shoulder, she looks out the window. The full moon is still high in the sky like it's taunting her somehow. Reminding her that the night isn't yet over. The scrape of claws and pop of bones somewhere beneath her feet is already doing that. 

"I'm going to feed," she whispers to him. 

He tenses for a moment, and for that one moment, she worries that maybe that isn't the answer he wanted. Maybe he doesn't want her to become a vampire. But a second passes and he relaxes right back into her, hugging her even tighter. 

"Thank god," he breathes out, and the relief is clear in his voice. "I don't think I could handle losing you again, honestly. For a minute there, I was pretty sure I was going out of my mind."

Josie can't help but give a soft chuckle in response, hearing the light note slipped beneath his words in an attempt to cheer her up. She pulls back, a small smile still in place, and is met with one in return. She could sense his relief, but to see it so clearly all over his face feels new and surprising.

Instead of commenting on it, though, she simply raises an eyebrow an inch or two at him. He pauses, faltering and retracing his own words. A sheepish expression quickly takes over his face, and her smile widens as he starts trying to backtrack, to no avail. She's starting to feel a bit better already.

"I'm just...glad you're gonna be okay," he settles on at last, and squeezes the hand he seems to have no intentions of letting go of. "And, you know that if you need me for any of this, I'm here. Twenty-four-seven. I'll be your personal guide to vampirism."

"Pretty sure that would require you actually knowing how to be a vampire," Kaleb calls over to them, not even bothering to pretend he hadn't been partially listening in. "Last time I checked, you don't even know how to feed properly without nearly tearing someone's head off."

Josie quickly bites her lip as MG glares over at Kaleb, who simply shoots him a grin in response. The glare is fast-fading, knowing he's joking, and MG just rolls his eyes as Kaleb goes back to his conversation with Lizzie. 

Josie watches them for a moment, her smile lingering. Kaleb must have taken up her seat on the couch the second she got up. Lizzie doesn't even seem to mind, surprisingly. She would have expected her to be huffing and glaring or at least shooting snarky comments at him, even in the midst of their situation. They've never exactly been the best of friends, and that's just Lizzie's go-to no matter what.

But she actually looks almost at ease as they talk away. The exhaustion and traces of everything that's happened are still clear on her face, but it's not as prominent. She's leaned sideways into the couch to face him, her legs tucked up underneath her, and it might just be Josie's eyes but she's actually smiling at him. Not a hint of animosity or hostility is in the air. It's nice in an odd sort of way. 

With the exception of Landon and Stefanie, who have been left to either make conversation or roam awkwardly on their own. Landon seems to have decided to attempt the former. Stefanie merely stares at him with raised eyebrows and an unimpressed look on her face. Josie's willing to take a guess and say that it's not going so well.

"So, uh...is there anything else you wanna talk about?" MG asks, and he's pretty sure he's hinting at something in particular just by the tone of his voice when he says it. "If not, totally cool. I am more than fine with just sitting here with you in silence. I just thought that maybe..."

"That maybe I would want to talk about my biological uncle who we just helped escape from a prison world right before he killed me and Lizzie," she finishes for him when he trails off. He guiltily drops his gaze down to their hands. "There's just not really much to say, I guess. All of the merge stuff, and everything about the Gemini Coven...I'm going to tell you it all later, and I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner. Trust me, I wanted to."

MG's eyes have already snapped back up to her, wide and confused. He's shaking his head before she's even really finished speaking, his brow crumpling into a frown.

"You don't have to apologize," he tells her. "I get it. And, of course I wanna know what happened tonight, but that doesn't mean I _have_ to know. You don't have to talk about it. You and Lizzie are alright. That's all that matters to me."

He says it with such sincerity that Josie actually stops. He's just sitting there, looking at her, still holding her hand. Nothing about it is different from their usual late-night talks, not really. Except, something feels different.

His words settle into her chest, deep beneath her rib cage, and warmth immediately spreads from the point. It only takes seconds for her entire body to be engulfed by it, like a fire consuming a meadow. It's not unpleasant, though. If anything, it's a comforting type of warmth, wrapping her up like a safety blanket. 

She smiles at him and twists their hands, taking better hold of his. She doesn't need to say anything as he smiles back at her.

"You're gonna be okay," he says again, nodding along as he leans a little closer as if it'll make it more convincing. "I promise. I'll be right here for you the entire way, and we'll...we'll get through this together. You, me, Lizzie. And Kaleb. Okay?"

Josie nods back without even thinking about it. That comforting warmth inside of her only grows as MG moves and she shifts a little to the side, making room for him beside her at the window. He slips in easily and pauses for a second, questioning, before she leans forward. His arm falls behind her and she adjusts, pressing into his side and taking comfort in how he winds it around her.

Her eyes drift back out to the rest of the room. She tries to ignore the sounds from outside. She doesn't know what they've decided to do with Kai, and she's trying not to let herself think on it too much in case that little bubble of guilt bursts and she's overwhelmed by it. She can't handle that right now. 

Landon seems to have actually gotten through to Stefanie, the two of them now immersed in conversation as they sit at one of the tables near the entrance. It's a good thing, Josie's sure, because Landon's leg is bouncing but at least he seems distracted for the most part. Even his eyes are red-rimmed, and her heart aches.

Kaleb and Lizzie are still talking. It's not much of a stretch to assume that he's giving her a similar offer of help that MG just gave to her when she feeds and turns. At least, she hopes it's "when" and not "if." Lizzie's never shown any interest in becoming a vampire, but then again, Josie had never even considered it in before a few days ago.

She frowns, her stomach turning. She wanted to do this for Lizzie. So that they would be together, without having to do the merge. Maybe it wasn't the most ideal way, and none of it really went to plan at all. But she can't imagine losing Lizzie. That was the whole point of this. 

As if sensing her worries, Lizzie turns on the couch, looking over at her. A smile flits across her lips, and her eyebrows raise at, what Josie's assuming is, her and MG. Josie can't help but smile back as she rolls her eyes at her, hearing her teasing echoing in her head without her even needing to speak a word. 

Lizzie's smile just grows even as she drops it, holding her gaze. There's something in her eyes, trying to communicate with her, and Josie understands perfectly. She doesn't have to worry about losing her. They're in this together. Always and Forever. 

Something tugs at the back of her mind at the thought, as if the words should have some sort of deeper meaning. She's almost positive she's heard them somewhere before, or maybe read them. It's hard to remember, though, and she lets it drift off without a second thought.

* * *

It might just be Caroline's imagination, but it's so much colder outside than it had been before. A chill goes down her spine, pulling at every nerve it can reach. Maybe it's just because it's late and summer is soon to come to an end, but when she looks at Kai, she can't help but feel that it's not entirely weather-related. 

She pushes him forward a few more steps away from the door then holds him firmly in place, Enzo doing the same on his other side. Kai doesn't try and struggle, obliging, though she feels that has more to do with the silencing spell Bonnie had to put on him after Damon was forced to cover his mouth to shut him up.

Valerie and Freya turn to them in confusion as the rest file out behind them. Dorian was starting to get anxious and impatient about so many people being in the school on a full moon — or at all, really — and Alaric decided it made more sense for them all to leave to finish this once and for all.

"What's going on?" Valerie asks, alert at the sight of Kai. 

"The twins are awake," Damon answers.

Surprise shows on hers and Freya's faces, and it's clear that they want to ask more, but Caroline just wants this over with. The sooner that they put an end to this nightmare, the better. And the sooner she can go back inside and be with her daughters. They keep walking, pushing Kai forward until they're out of sight of the school and deep in the woods surrounding them. It's better that way.

Once she stops again, she turns to Alaric, his gun pressed into Kai's back to be safe. Not that she thinks he actually needs any more doses of vervain or wooden splinters edging towards his heart; by the looks of it, if they're not fast, he'll die on his own just from Tyler and Matt's means of getting him to them.

"We need the ascendant," she says, looking around at them all. "Both of them. I don't know how we're going to destroy them, but I'm sure there has to be a way."

"Say that I actually agree to go along with this," Alaric says, his voice making it clear that he would rather do anything else. "How exactly do you suggest that we find the ascendants? We have no idea where this world's copy is, not to mention that we would have to go into the prison world to find the other one. I'm not seeing any volunteers to do that."

"If it helps," they look over at Matt, watching him reach a hand into his back pocket and pull out a familiar hunk of metal, "Ty and I found this when we caught him in the town square." He nods his toward Kai. "Figured it would be a good idea not to leave it lying around."

Alaric eyes the ascendant in Matt's hand with something close to disdain. It's not like Caroline doesn't know what option he would rather choose out of the few they have, but even with Josie's changed mind, she can't bring herself to choose the same one.

Josie's emotions will be overwhelming her from the transition, just like they did to her when she herself first turned, only so much worse. Caroline knows her daughter. She knows that Josie may not care what they do in this current moment, but she is absolutely positive that she will later on, and she wants to be able to look her in the eyes without having to tell her she went against what she originally begged her for.

Even Lizzie would regret it. She can't force them to have to face the weight of all of this later on when they do care. Caroline takes the ascendant from Matt's outstretched hand with a grateful look. He and Tyler really did have some good timing which is a strange first for any of them. 

"There," she says, looking back over at Alaric. "Problem solved."

Alaric shakes his head, sighing at her simplification of the situation at hand. It's not simple, she knows. They have more than one problem, but she would prefer to handle one at a time. Starting with the biggest, most dangerous. 

"There, uh..." She turns back to Tyler as he speaks almost hesitantly, playing with something in his own hands. He lifts his head, looking between them with something in his eyes that she doesn't like. "We found this, too."

He holds his hand out, offering what looks like a slip of paper to her. Her eyebrows furrow as she glances from it to him, but she takes it from him. It's burned around the edges and slightly crumpled. She unfolds it with one hand as Alaric peers closely over Kai's shoulder, reading along with her. 

A shot of anger surges back through her as she takes in what it says. She scoffs, hew jaw clenching as tries to reel herself back in and turns her head to Kai. 

"'Uncle to nieces?'" she asks in disbelief as Alaric flares, breathing out deeply to keep himself calm. "You told them to come to you? That's why they went into that place, because you sent them a freaking magical message telling them to come and see you so that you can _talk_?" 

"This was your plan all along, wasn't it?" Alaric asks, fury seething beneath his words. "Get into their heads with this stupid invitation, promising them answers? Make us out to be the bad guys because you, their biological uncle who was _wronged_, were willing to tell them everything about their family history while their own parents were still lying to them."

It makes complete sense, and it's exactly something he would do. Kai shifts under Caroline's hand on his shoulder, the chains barely budging an inch, keeping his arms in place. She raises her eyebrows at him and he waves a hand as best he can from beneath his restraints with a pointed look. 

"Bonnie," Caroline says without taking her eyes off of him, "can you please take the silencing spell off of him?"

"Are you sure?" Bonnie asks, eyeing him warily. 

Caroline nods despite her better instincts. She's certain that Bonnie and Davina's spell will keep the chains in place. There's not much harm in giving him the ability to talk aside from him being able to spend the next few minutes annoying the hell out of all of them.

No one else protests, not even Alaric. She figures he wants this over with as much as she does, and as despicable as Kai is, he's never really lied. So anything he feels he has to share with them could be of some use, though she's not entirely counting on it. She hasn't lost her mind quite yet. 

With a downward wave of her hand, Bonnie mutters a couple of indistinguishable words and something in the air shifts with the familiar pull of magic, a faint breeze swirling around them. She drops her hand back to her side as Kai pushes out a deep sigh as if he hadn't been able to breathe. 

"Come on then," Caroline says blankly, simply wanting this over with. "Let's hear your great reason for why we shouldn't put you back in the prison world. I'm sure it's going to be really convincing."

Kai stretches his jaw out, forming weird shapes with his mouth as he does as if testing it and his tongue out. Always one for the dramatic. He glances at her, a beat passing, then stops.

"I don't have one," he says with a shrug. 

Caroline stares at him in confusion. He isn't even going to try and argue his case? He was all for them letting him go just a few minutes ago. What could possibly have changed?

"Well that's the worst defence I've ever heard," Damon says, his eyes moving up and down Kai with an equal amount of suspicion as if he's got some agenda hidden beneath the chains. 

"This is a waste of time," Alaric tells them, and prods the gun into Kai's back again, though he remains unfazed. "Let's just get this over with already, alright? If you're not going to let me kill him, then at least hurry this up."

"I should, however, point out that it was my blood that turned Josie," Kai quickly jumps back in before any of them can respond.

Alaric stops, Caroline along with him. Her eyes narrow, and she glances at him, sharing a look. Neither of them are willing to trust him, but Kai has a tendency to blurt out important things right when he thinks he's about to die. Or he'll at least hint at something and imply harder enough until they have to strike a deal with him. Whatever it is, they're both in agreement that it's not going to be worth it. But they'll hear him out.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Caroline asks with a shake of her head, a crease forming in her brow. "It's not as if she's sired to you. We would have known if she was because she would have cared a lot more about you dying, which, as you clearly heard, she doesn't, so...?"

"Maybe not," Kai agrees with another shrug. Caroline eyes the chains with a twist of anxiety deep as they move with him. "But even without a sire bond, you always just have this connection to the person who turned you. At least, that's what I've heard. Am I wrong?"

Caroline wants to scoff at him as well now, roll her eyes and tell him just how completely and utterly wrong he is. Except, she isn't so sure. Her eyes move to Damon, meeting his with doubt.

No matter how much she hated him for years for everything he did to her, she's never fully been able to shake him off. Nothing too big, and it's not like she had this overwhelming urge to protect him like the sire bond might have caused. But there's always been something. Just...a connection.

When she checks the rest of their faces for some sort of reaction telling her that maybe it's just because she was close to Damon in some way no matter what and that's the reason for her connection to him, she comes up empty. All of the vampires around her seem to be doubting themselves just as much as her, even Kol and Valerie. 

"Well, in all fairness, I never really knew Tatia," Kol comments, but his voice is still uncertain. He looks at Elena, his eyebrows furrowing. "Perhaps that's why I've always been rather fond of you. Same bloodline with the whole doppelganger thing, I suppose."

Elena blinks, startled. "Wait, what?"

"No. No, you're wrong," Caroline decides, shaking her head. "And — even if you're not and you do have some minuscule connection to Josie, it doesn't matter. She already said she doesn't care, and you are never going to get near her or Lizzie ever again, alright? So, just — stop."

"I'm not saying it to hurt you, Caroline," Kai says, and she hates how she actually believes him. His voice almost doesn't even sound like his. "I'm just worried about Josie. And Lizzie, for that matter. They're going to become heretics. A practically extinct species that's going to make them even more of outsiders than they would have already been, and..."

He shakes his head, huffing out an exaggerated sigh as his eyes dart to Valerie.

"Frankly, you're not going to be able to help them through it." He shrugs. "Being a vampire isn't the same as a heretic. You won't know how to help them with when they siphon something for the first time as a heretic and it's so much stronger. Or, how to stop them from accidentally siphoning themselves. All it takes is just a second too long and they'll siphon the life right out of them."

Caroline stays silent, glaring at him. He has to be wrong. She can help them. She knows what it's like to turn into a vampire, especially against her own will. They already know how to control their powers anyway. Mostly. There's still a slip-up here and there, but surely the vampire side can't affect it that much.

"And you can't just hire a heretic to come in and teach a brand new class to help them through it either. If you haven't noticed, we're sort of a dying species, myself and lovely Valerie over there being the last of our kind. But — I just can't see her staying in this place after what happened to poor Stefan. Which means...I'm really your only option."

Caroline's heart has dropped somewhere into the pit in her stomach, being impaled by the little thorns that his words cause to grow inside of her. They wrap around it, squeezing tightly as she presses her lips together tightly.

Kai feigns surprise at his own revelation, seemingly oblivious as he widens his eyes. "Huh. Shocker."

"I've changed my mind," Valerie says through her teeth, staring coldly at Kai. "I want to kill him."

Damon agrees with her, his knuckles white around the still unused stake in his hand, and even Elena seems keen on joining them. The Stefan comment has thrown all of them, and Caroline's doing her best not to react. 

Kai just laughs, obviously finding amusement in the threat to his life from everyone around him. Freya sets a hand on Valerie's arm to keep her in place, just in case, and Damon doesn't actually make a move to act on his words no matter how hard he scowls at him.

"Time's up," Caroline says, crumpling the piece of paper in her hand and tossing it to the ground, doing her best to keep the emotion out of her voice. 

Turning to Bonnie, she's immediately met with an answering nod to her silent question. She goes to hand the ascendant over for her to start the spell, then falters, hearing a low noise. It takes her a second too late to realize it's Kai. 

The ascendant flies out of her hand and onto the ground. It doesn't break, to her relief, but she startles in shock. Everyone jumps to attention, alert, but Kai's already acting. 

He twists his hand up faster than Caroline can notice and grabs her wrist, yanking her grip from his arm. She hisses and tries to jerk back, but he twists his hand again. There's a loud pop in her shoulder and a flare of pain all the way through her arm to her neck. 

"You should have just let me go," he tells them with a shaking voice that borders on maniacal as she stumbles away from him. 

She grits her teeth and pushes her shoulder forward with another resounding popping noise that makes her queasy. The pain eases up immediately.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be," she warns him, glancing around as everyone seems to want to act. 

"But then where would the fun be in that?" Kai asks.

He closes his eyes, his mouth moving. Caroline's stomach drops and she goes to move, catching a few others quickly stepping forward to do the same, sensing what comes next. 

The chains around Kai fall to the ground in a heap at his feet. Caroline and Enzo both move to grab and secure him long enough for Bonnie to redo the spell. His hands fly out on either side and the air is filled with the sickening sound of flesh ripping apart and bones breaking under the strength of a vampire. 

Caroline gasps as Kai's hand curls around her heart, his other plunged deep into Enzo's chest. No matter how many times it's happened, she'll never get used to the feeling of her heart being held in someone's hand. It continues to beat, pounding away beneath his fingers, but it sends a sharp pain through her chest and arms with each one.

"Make one move and I won't hesitate to rip both of their hearts out right here," Kai announces to the group, freezing all of them to the spot as all traces of that light, joking note leave in the blink of an eye. All that's left is a cold, humourless voice as he speaks. "It would really be a shame to have to kill these two — really, neither of you have done much to me. I don't even know you that well."

Enzo merely grunts in response to being addressed by him, though he doesn't appear as pained by the hand enclosed around his heart as Caroline thinks he ought to be. His face still twists, though, and a muscle twitches in his jaw as it tightens.

"Let them go," Bonnie warns him, her voice dangerously low. "Now."

"Was that a threat?" Kai asks, feigning innocence. 

Caroline feels him squeeze her heart tighter and she gasps again, her chest constricting painfully. Enzo makes another pained noise in the back of his throat at the same time and he grabs hold of Kai's wrist. Kai fakes a gasp of his own, widening his eyes as he stares Bonnie down.

Her eyes darting between both of them in panic. She lowers her hands a few inches. Caroline can tell she isn't going to act. She's watched Enzo have his heart ripped out once before, she isn't going to risk Kai doing the same to both of them now. It's probably the same reason that even Damon isn't making a move toward them. 

"You're outnumbered, Kai," Tyler points out, spreading his arms before letting them drop to his sides. He shakes his head at him. "Just give it up already. Let them go, and accept it. You lost. It's over, you are never going to be the leader of the Gemini Coven again."

Any other time, Caroline would probably lecture him on provoking the man who has his hand around her heart, but she can't even get one word out past a coughing fit. The taste of blood fills her mouth. 

"Oh, would you look at that," Kai says, his mouth curving as she feels his fingers pressing into every little crevice of her heart, making her cough violently, the blood spurting from her lips. "Seems like all it would take is just a little bit more pressure—"

"Stop!" Alaric moves so fast that Caroline barely sees him until his arm is wrapped tightly around Kai's throat with the gun pressed against his right temple. "Let them go," he says through clenched teeth. "Slowly."

"Ric!" she hears multiple voices shout, clearly sensing the danger as Bonnie's eyes widen in alarm and even Matt's got his hands out in front of him as if it'll somehow freeze time to prevent whatever Kai's going to do next.

"What part of—" Kai twists his hands slowly and both Caroline and Enzo choke now, both gagging on their own blood, "—don't move or I'll kill them aren't you understanding? It's a simple concept."

No one seems to dare even breathe for fear of what it'll do. Caroline catches Alaric's eyes as he glances over at her, silently asking if she's alright. It would throw her any other time, but she manages a subtle nod despite her head starting to spin and every inch of her body engulfed in a fiery pain, burning from the inside out. 

"I have a gun full of wooden bullets pointed at your head. Now—" Alaric presses it a little harder to his temple, "—it might not kill you, but it'll definitely hurt like a bitch and knock you out for a good few minutes long enough for us to throw your ass back in that prison world. I really don't think you should be making threats right now."

Kai rolls his eyes. "That would be terrifying, truly, if I weren't currently full of werewolf venom and about three doses of vervain as it is and still standing."

Alaric looks very tempted to test his logic, and it's obvious to everyone — even Caroline — that Kai isn't as confident as he's making out. The werewolf venom is spreading with each second and has to be just minutes away from reaching his heart by now.

"Plus," Kai continues calmly, "shoot me and who's to say that I don't rip their hearts out when I go down? I think I've got a good enough grip, I could probably manage it. Those muscle reflexes and all that crap — you know, I really think I would have made a good doctor. Imagine that: Doctor Parker. Jo and I would have made a great team."

"Ric, please," Damon says to him, his eyes darting from Enzo to Caroline then back to him. "Don't risk it. You know he'll do it."

"You know, you've gotten smarter, Damon," Kai comments. "Unexpected, but I like it. Although, I did enjoy your whole reckless, diving headfirst into danger thing. Made you fun to be around."

"I said let them go," Alaric repeats, unrelenting, his arm only tightening around Kai's throat. "Now."

"I can stop him," Davina says from beside Bonnie, nodding with determination. 

Bonnie catches her hands before she can raise them as Kai laughs, somehow unfazed by the situation. 

"Aw, she is just _adorable_," he says with a teasing tone that has Kol practically growling and Davina seething. 

"You have three seconds," Alaric warns him. "One."

Kai sucks air in through his teeth and all pretence of playing around drops immediately as his expression hardens. "Oh, you just _had _to ruin it. I'm not really a big fan of countdowns or deadlines. Although, a _deadline_ sure is ironic considering I'm going to kill them now."

He suddenly squeezes as hard as he can until Caroline can feel her heart being crushed as easily as a piece of fruit. She doubles over, gripping his arm tightly as the pain shoots all through her, blinding and white-hot. There's a scream, more than one, a name being shouted, the ring of a shot being fired. All she can do is focus on not passing out, her nails digging into flesh as her heart tries to beat in protest against Kai's intrusive hand.

She coughs again, choking on the blood that bubbles up from her lungs as her head swims. Everything's fuzzy and aching. She barely registers that Kai's fingers have loosened on her heart until his arm is being pulled from her chest, scraping painfully against her broken ribs and back through the bloody hole of ripped flesh he created. 

Air returns to her body in a rush as she gasps. Her body jerks in shock and her hand flies to her chest, pressing against the hole. Her skin is already knitting itself back together, but it's like a million needles being pushed through over and over.

It takes her another moment to adjust, then tries to regain her focus. When she does, she finds Enzo doing the same, Damon and Bonnie on either side of him. Her eyes shift a few inches over with dread creeping up on her. 

Tyler's standing in front of her, and her stomach turns at the organ gripped in his hand, blood dripping from it. He looks like he might throw up at any second, his face grim and pale. She glances down. Kai's body is collapsed in a heap at her feet. 

His eyes are wide open, the last traces of his threat still visible on his face even as he lays there, lifeless. Blood has startled to trickle from a small bullet-sized wound in his right temple, dyeing the grass as it already starts to collect around his head. There's a bloody hole ripped in his chest the size of Tyler's fist. She almost thinks she can see the edges of the broken ribs that were protecting the heart now held in Tyler's hand.

"I'm sorry," Tyler says quietly as he looks over at her with almost blank eyes. They're red around the edges and glistening in the light of the moon in a way that makes them look bright yellow as he shakes his head slowly. "But I didn't have a choice."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Josie and Lizzie are both okay! Transitioning into vampires, sure, but they're technically alive! Can't say the same for Kai...how we feeling about that? I'm prepared, let's hear all your thoughts! ❤


	25. We've already made our decision

Noises from the outside drift into the common room, sharp and clear in Lizzie's ears. She can tell by the looks on Stefanie's and Landon's faces that it's not just a side-effect of her transitioning. They really just are that loud, and that does nothing to ease her worries. The sound of fighting has never really put her at ease in all fairness.

Kaleb smoothly draws her attention back in an attempt to distract her from it. He's certainly subtle about it, but she can tell that's what he's doing as he jokes about how maybe now the school will actually listen and give them human blood. She agrees without so much as a second thought. It startles her.

The thought of being a vampire should unsettle her. It does, in a way. Except, she's not scared. She feels different and a little off, like some dial has been turned to full blast inside of her, but none of it really worries her. She can still feel a hint of magic in her veins, clinging to her blood like a life source. It is now, she supposes. But the thought of being a vampire almost doesn't seem that bad to her. 

"That might change when you actually have to feed," Kaleb says when she voices it aloud to him. There's still a grin on his lips, though, and he's already made the promise to show her all the perks of being a vampire. "First time isn't so great."

"Yeah, it's actually kind of gross," MG chimes in from the window sill, his nose scrunching. "I think it depends on the type of blood, but when I turned, it tasted sort of like... when you inhale too much smoke. But warm."

"Ew," Josie agrees, looking up at him from where she's still curled up beside him. "I thought it would taste like it always does. Sort of...coppery. Like metal."

"Metallic," Kaleb corrects her, but nods. "And it does, afterwards. The first time, you're super repulsed by it, obviously. But then it's like you can't get enough of it and starts to taste less like blood. Like he said though, it depends on the type. Some are just always gross. It also depends on whether you feed from a bag or a person. Sometimes, one is better than the other."

MG shifts, looking uncomfortable. Lizzie is positive that she needs to get to the bottom of why he's been acting like eventually. Usually, vampires are all up for talking about blood. Stefanie just scoffs and rolls her eyes. 

"You use that to excuse the fact that you like feeding on people because it gives you some sort of freaky buzz that's super weird," she says, waving a hand vaguely in the air, her arm leaned on the edge of the couch. "It probably doesn't even taste any different. It just gives you a better hit."

Lizzie's eyebrows shoot up and she exchanges a look with Josie as Kaleb glares at Stefanie. She does her best to suppress a grin as Josie chews on her bottom lip, a curious spark lighting in her eyes.

"No," he argues, "it has a completely different taste. And drinking it from the vein makes us stronger as well. It has absolutely nothing to do with any of the other feelings that may come along with it."

"Wait, so she's right?" Josie asks, her eyebrows raising further. 

Kaleb's glare at Stefanie only hardens as she sniggers, setting Landon off beside her as well. It's ridiculous, and not even that funny when Lizzie really thinks about it. Even if it is making Kaleb fluster which is a rarity in itself and one that she is greatly enjoying. 

But Josie's starting to laugh quietly, and MG can't seem to stop himself from joining her as she looks up at him. It feels out of place, and yet, none of them seem to be thinking. And this is the first time in a while that Lizzie has felt so at ease, and so she's there laughing along with them. Even Kaleb gives up, a light chuckle slipping past his lips as he shakes his head.

The common room is filled with their quiet, completely ridiculous laughter. It feels good. Hearing it, feeling it all around her. Her jaw aches from it, and her stomach is starting to hurt a little, and her throat rubs uncomfortably. For the first time since all of this started — since Triad, even — she finally feels like maybe everything will be alright after all. She feels like a child, sitting and laughing with her friends. She feels like herself.

Her eyes drift around the room, the moment slowing as if she's looking at a photograph, time standing still to allow her to drink in this feeling. There's a faint tug somewhere in the back of her mind as she takes in the sight of her friends. She wouldn't even have considered Landon and Stefanie her friends before tonight, but she smiles at the thought now. They're all happy, surprisingly.

And yet, she can't help but continue looking around the room. It's like something's missing but she just can't figure out what it is that she's looking for. Rafael, of course, should have been with them. But even as she thinks it, she knows that's not the only thing. It's like they're missing a part of the team. 

Something else crosses her mind and the thought is gone as she looks at Landon and her laughter fades.

"Hey, what did you tell Sebastian?" she asks, remembering that the last time she saw him, he had practically forgotten her existence entirely. "You didn't ditch him in the middle of town, right? He's still adjusting to this era."

Landon blinks, clearly thrown off his guard, his mouth still curved into a silent laugh. "What? No, no. He, uh...he came back with me when we saw MG leave, and your dad sort of told us what was going on, so. I think he's upstairs. He wanted to help, but he left after, like, half an hour or something. Said he was hungry, but he never came back."

That somehow doesn't surprise her in the slightest. It should, and admittedly, she's a little hurt by it. But she reminds herself he doesn't know her. He's just the mysterious new guy that she thought she was bonding with. She doesn't expect him to want to get roped into this big ball of a mess, and she's not so sure that she actually cares that he isn't with them right now. 

"He wasn't really my type anyway," she says, shrugging it off with ease. She receives more than one raised eyebrow. "Too old-fashioned for my tastes, really. Besides, it seemed to me that he was far more interested in our resident phoenix and saviour from Malivore. Suppose I can't entirely fault him for that, though I am still mildly insulted."

Landon flushes as she looks over at him, his cheeks tinting a particularly telling shade of red. His mouth opens, and he's shaking his head, his eyes widening as if to protest. Then something falters in his expression; doubt, uncertainty. Something tells her he didn't even realize that he had captured the attention of their newest addition.

"Seriously?" he asks, his eyebrows furrowing, the corners of his mouth twitching up. "You think he was into me? I was positive that he wanted to turn me into a late-night snack. His accent was throwing me, and he has this sort of weird look in his eyes."

"Landon," Kaleb shakes his head with a sigh and a grin. "Alright, we really need to work on this radar of yours. Even I can tell the dude's into you, and I wasn't even paying attention to either of you half the night."

Landon only flushes deeper, a sheepish look on his face. Still, there's a sort of puzzlement to it as he seems to try and figure out what exactly he missed. Lizzie raises her eyebrows at him and his eyes are widening again.

"Doesn't matter anyway," he quickly says, acting completely nonchalant as he tries to shrug it off as she did. "Because you'll obviously win him over. I mean, he's bound to be charmed by you. Worked on Raf, didn't it? Sebastian is all yours."

"Ignoring your lack of tact and basic social skills since you're a hobbit and have been living in a cave up until now," Lizzie says, earning her a snicker here and there and an amused look from Landon. She rolls her eyes. "Relax. I'm not that interested in him any more. I can take a hint."

"Since when?" Stefanie shoots over at her.

Lizzie glares at her, but it's short-lived. The corners of Stefanie's mouth pull up and she knows it was a joke. She can't help but smile a little in return, and Kaleb makes a remark about the Sebastian love-triangle going on that has them all laughing again. She's sure it has never been this easy.

Screams cut through their laughter, followed by a gunshot. They all fall silent as it rings through the room, seeming to echo. Lizzie's heartbeat pounds in her ears, thumping against her ribs harder than she thinks it's ever done as they all stare at the door.

She tries to listen past it, her eyes darting between each of them. They've all gone still, tensed up. No one breathes as they meet each other's eyes, sharing wary looks between them. When she looks over at Josie, there's something else in her expression. Knowing. Her eyes are wide and panicked, and Lizzie may not be good with other people's emotions, but she can tell right away what Josie is thinking at that moment. 

"You don't think..." Lizzie starts quietly, and she can't figure out how she feels about the end of that sentence.

Josie draws in a shaky breath as she looks back at her. "I don't know. Maybe."

"What?" Landon asks in confusion. Stefanie prods an elbow into his arm and his eyes widen in alarm. "Wait, you think they killed that guy? Right out there?" 

"Nice tact, man," MG says sarcastically, but he swallows and glances back over at the door. Lizzie's almost positive he tightens the arm he has around Josie, holding her a little closer as if afraid something's going to happen. Again. 

"Should we...?" Kaleb asks, his voice giving away that he isn't too eager to actually act on his question but is ready to do so all the same. 

"Just...give it a minute," Lizzie says, eyeing the door. "If nothing else happens, then we go and check it out."

No one argues. They all watch the door, their eyes darting to each other every few seconds. She's got a feeling that they're all thinking along the same lines. There are at least three possibilities. Only one of them is even remotely good. The other two... she doesn't want to have to check.

Her heart is still beating away in her head and her ears, loud and giving her a bit of a headache. She doesn't move an inch, though. None of them does. She listens to every little tick of the clock hanging up to her right. Twenty seconds. Twenty-one. Twenty-two. Twenty-three.

They continue to pass without another noise. Lizzie tries to listen, but she isn't even technically a vampire yet, and she can't hear over the sounds of the school that are already swimming around inside of her head. She checks Kaleb's face for any sort of reaction, some sign that he's picking up on something. 

Fifty-five. Fifty-six. Fifty-seven. Her stomach turns, her throat tight. Breathing suddenly feels so much harder than she remembers it being a few minutes ago. Fifty-nine. Sixty. Sixty-one.

The door starts to open before anyone can move. Lizzie refuses to let the relief set in just yet. Her nails are digging into her leg and her other hand has grabbed hold of something that feels vaguely like more skin, but she doesn't feel any pain, and she can't focus.

Her mom walks in first, trailed by her dad. Lizzie sags, relief crashing into her, and her grip loosens on what she realizes is Kaleb's arm. Then she really looks at her mom and she tenses up all over again, her heart leaping into her throat. The front of her shirt is soaked with blood and has a hole ripped into it on the left of her chest. 

"Mom!" 

She and Josie are both on their feet in a second and rushing to meet the two of them before they even manage more than a step into the common room. Lizzie does a quick scan of her dad, but as far as she can tell, there's no sign of blood or injury.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," her mom quickly assures them with an attempt a small smile that turns into a wince.

"What happened?" Josie asks as the rest of them trail in through the open door. "We heard screams and — and a gunshot."

Her mom falters and shares a look with her dad. Lizzie's learned that's not a good sign. She glances behind them, her eyes moving over everyone else. She can't be sure of how many people there had been before they went outside, but she's positive that at least six are missing because she didn't have a clue who half of them were.

Seven, she realizes with a lurch. Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Damon are supporting a slightly unsteady and bleeding Uncle Enzo. They move around them and head back into the common room. Brushing off the fact that there's a hole in his shirt exactly like her mom's, Lizzie turns back to the rest of them, searching. 

Her aunt Elena goes to follow but hesitates for just a second before continuing after them. By the sounds of it, she's trying to assist Uncle Enzo despite his insistence that he's perfectly fine. Just a scratch, she hears him say. She tries not to think about what that really means.

"Where's Uncle Tyler?" Lizzie decides to ask instead of the obvious. "He's usually here for full moons, to help the werewolves?"

"He'll be back," her mom says, nodding as if it'll make it more convincing. "He just..." She trails off uncertainly, her eyes darting back to her dad. 

"Mom," Josie says, quietly pleading. "You said no more lies. Remember? We understand why you lied about being delayed home, but whatever it is...we can handle it."

Lizzie can't help but wonder if she means that. She knows Josie's strong, but if it's what she's thinking then she has a feeling that Josie isn't going to be able to let it go. The guilt at her indecision is going to tear her apart. 

But that's why she has Lizzie. She will be there for her. It's just another thing for them to get through together.

Steeling herself, she waits, watching her mom's face shift into confusion for just a moment before brushing whatever it is aside and crumbling. It's like being hit with a wave of guilt and sadness that aren't even her own. Her mom shakes her head.

"He tried to attack us again," she tells them quietly despite their dad's attempt to stop her. "We were going to send him away, to the prison world, but he wasn't backing down, and we...we had to..."

She doesn't seem to know how to phrase it in a way that will soften the blow. It shouldn't be a blow at all, and even though Lizzie does feel a twist somewhere deep inside of her, it doesn't hurt that much. Then she looks at Josie. 

It's not grief, and it's not sadness. But something pushes its way through in Josie's expression no matter how hard she bites her lip and lets her mouth twist to prevent it. She nods to let them know she understands, though her eyes fall to the floor as she seems to try and hold herself together. 

"It's so stupid," she breathes out at once. "I hate him. He's hurt so many people and he tried to kill us. But I just..."

"I know, sweetie," their mom says, and she moves forward, pulling Josie into her. "It's okay. You're allowed to be sad."

She buries her face in Josie's hair, and their dad stretches an arm out. Lizzie practically collapses into the hug. She closes her eyes, but she feels more arms wrap around her and her hand finds Josie's between them. In the blink of an eye, she's transformed back to that little three-year-old. 

Being wrapped up in her parent's arms with Josie at her side is something that hasn't happened in so long. For one, because her parents are hardly ever in the same room anymore, never mind willing to hug each other. It's like it just sucks out all of the pressure that's been building inside of her for months, leaving her as a child once more, the last time she remembers ever feeling like this.

It's still not the same comfort to her that is clearly is to Josie. Part of her is scared by the fact that she's not even really sad. It's more like a sense of loss, in a way. She's lost the hope that she held for Kai actually being the answer to their problems.

She was never holding out hope for a new uncle, but she really let herself believe he would help them. This is why she spent sixteen-years letting Josie be the optimistic twin.

They pull back after a moment, and their dad ushers them into the common room to join everyone else. He hangs back for just a minute to talk to Dorian while they walk in, and Lizzie reclaims her seat beside Kaleb on the couch. 

There's a strange look on his face when she looks at him, his eyebrows raising just a little. She just smiles at him, and he returns it, even if neither of them quite reach their eyes. It's enough for their situation.

Lizzie watches Landon gently comfort Josie in his own, slightly awkward way, rubbing her arm with an uncertain look on his face. She seems to appreciate it all the same, though Lizzie thinks that could also have something to do with MG leaning in to whisper something in her ear. 

There's something different about the air around them, she notices as she finally starts to ease up a little. Her mom joins the rest of them on the couch across from her where her aunt Elena's still carefully checking over Aunt Bonnie with a first-air kid laid out next to her, taking a seat on the arm. No one is tensed up or panicked. 

Her eyes drift over all of them, and it's like time freezes all over again. Her mom actually smiles as Uncle Damon moves around the back and wraps an arm around her, finally able to properly greet her. Uncle Enzo is pulling Stefanie into his side, holding her close with a faint smile. Aunt Elena and Aunt Bonnie both follow, smiling softly. It's those ones that aren't quite right; they're twisted and almost sombre, but they're relieved. 

Her dad joins them, and Uncle Damon pulls away from her mom as he walks to him instead. He apologises — for what, Lizzie isn't sure — and holds his hand out to him. Her dad accepts, shaking it. He gives his own apology right back and Uncle Damon pulls him into a hug, making him huff out a startled breathe before he relaxes and hugs him right back.

It should be wrong. After everything that has happened, being even remotely happy should feel wrong. But it doesn't. They're all worn out and exhausted and beaten-down, but they're still alive. Lizzie is sure that this is what her parents and all of her many aunts and uncles celebrations after they defeated any of their big bads from the past were like. She finally feels like she's come home. 

Everything unfreezes when her dad sighs. A silence falls over everyone again, all eyes moving to him.

"There's something we still need to talk about," he says, and he meets her eyes across the room before they shift to Josie, and then to their mom. "I would usually say that after a day like the one we've had, it can wait until tomorrow, when we've all rested and have clearer heads. But we only have twenty-four hours."

Lizzie's feelings sink. She catches on right away. Her stomach turns as she and Josie look at each other, understanding passing between them. She tries to prepare herself, readies the words on the tip of her tongue like she would a shield, but her throat still tightens all the same at what she knows comes next. 

"You're both in the transition period right now, as you're well aware. And, well...you know how the rest of this goes," her mom says gently, her voice almost regretful as if she wishes that they were clueless to all of this. 

"We either feed in the next twenty-four hours or we die for real this time," Josie confirms quietly. "We know."

Her dad rubs a hand over his face, clearly unable to handle just hearing it said aloud. Her mom just draws in a shaky breath before pushing it back out in a soft sigh, tilting her head up a little. 

"Whatever decision you make," their dad starts, somehow managing to keep his voice calm and steady, "we will understand. It's entirely up to the both of you. We're not going to force any of this on you."

Their mom closes her eyes and Lizzie doesn't miss the tear that tracks down her cheek. It's clear that neither of them wants to go along with the possibility that they might not choose to become vampires. 

"It's okay," Lizzie tells them, making her mom look back up at her. She pauses to glance at Josie, just to be sure. "We've already made our decision. There is no way that we're going out just months after our sixteenth birthday. I mean, I know we aren't going to age, but I still have so many plans for our seventeenth, and our eighteenth, and we are doing every single one of them, human or not."

Both of them stare at them with wide eyes, shocked, trying to digest her words through the light, joking tone she used. She just smiles gently as it seems to hit them, both barely daring to breathe.

"We're going to feed," Josie adds helpfully. 

That seems to do the trick of helping it fully sink in for them. Relief washes over their faces as they relax, the tension and fear visibly leaving them in one fell swoop.

"Oh, thank god," her dad breathes out, casting his teary eyes up to the ceiling.

"We'll be here for you the entire way, okay?" her mom says, nodding as she looks between them, clearly trying not to blink in an effort to hold back her own tears. "I — I can help you with all of it; the control, the adjusting, the heightened feelings. But — we can talk about all of that later. The sooner you both feed, the better. Best not to leave it late and risk it."

Lizzie is positive that she and her uncle Damon both share a pointed look with her aunt Elena at that, which she responds to with a hum of agreement, almost seeming amused. She really wishes that she knew even half of the things about her parents past. All the more reason to complete the transition. 

"I would say that's totally not a problem since we're in a school that houses vampires and our freezer is stocked with blood bags," Lizzie says, doing her best to sound casual about it. "If any of the blood was actually human, that is. Which, it's not, creating a bit of a problem."

She catches Kaleb looking at her from the corner of her eye, the raise of his eyebrows and his impressed smile. She made him a promise and she is determined to keep it, now more than ever. Her dad's face falls, realizing the dilemma and confirming for her at once that Kaleb was right.

Her mom turns, looking up at him in shock with a flash of something bordering on anger. It surprises Lizzie to know that her mom clearly wasn't aware of that. 

"I knew something was off about that stuff. You promised me you would keep stocking it with human blood, Ric," she berates him. "It's not fair on them to lie to them like that."

"So, you're our headmistress next semester?" Kaleb asks her, his eyebrows furrowing but looking awfully pleased about that.

She falters, her mouth opening to answer. The subject is quickly dropped before she can get the chance.

"We need human blood," her dad says. "I would offer myself, but I still ingest vervain. I don't know if it would work."

"It probably wouldn't be the best way to start off their transition," her uncle Damon says, something about his expression telling her that it wouldn't be his first choice even if the vervain wasn't going to be a problem. She's never had to take it herself seeing as how she's immune from compulsion, but she can imagine how bad it must taste.

"Well, we don't exactly have many other options," her dad points out, gesturing around them. "Dorian's on vervain, you still have the cure in you, and we can't risk it with Elena." He looks over at her. "Not that I'm even sure your blood would work now that you've tapped into your traveller side."

"What if I went down to the hospital?" her mom suggests. "I could be in and out in half an hour."

"I still have some vials at the clinic," Aunt Elena quickly says. "In Mystic Falls, it's a guarantee that at least half of my patients are injured vampires. We can go right now."

Her mom lights up, as does her dad, and everyone's agreeing in an instant. They both head out, promising they'll be quick. In the meantime, the rest of them just wait, letting the time pass as they fall into little conversations and, in her dad's case, pacing the room with an anxious look on his face. 

Lizzie has no idea how much time passes. She gets so wrapped up in making sure Josie's alright in the most discreet way possible and falling into short little conversations. Kaleb helps, both with checking in with Josie and getting her to actually smile, even if it's only a twitch of her lips, and by talking away to her when MG and Landon are with Josie.

She ends up denying that she grabbed his arm earlier, to which he responds with a hum and a raise of his eyebrows. She hurries to move on from that, but it's a good distraction from everything else if she's honest, and she doesn't really mind at all.

Before she knows it, her mom and Aunt Elena are walking back in through the doors, blood bag now in hand. Lizzie faintly thinks that this is the most activity the school has been allowed on a full moon ever. 

MG quickly fetches two glasses from the kitchen, deciding it better not to make them feed from the bag, back in the blink of an eye. He hands one over to her dad as her mom opens the bag up. Her dad holds it steady while she pours, letting the blood drip into it.

Lizzie's stomach turns as she watches. She gingerly takes the glass when they're done. The realization that she's about to drink human blood hits her and she's pretty sure she's going to throw it back up if she takes even a sip. 

A light jab to her side has her turning to look at Kaleb. He nods for her to do it as her mom fills a quarter of the second glass for Josie. She glances from Kaleb to the blood with distaste, but he just stares her down and she knows she's going to do it anyway. 

Deciding to just get it over with, she brings the glass to her lips and tips it up. It only makes it worse with how long it takes for the thick liquid to actually reach her lips. As soon as it does, though, she holds her breath and downs it. It's a strange sensation.

Just as Kaleb and MG said, it's disgusting. It tastes exactly like blood and it's warm and gross. Except, when she swallows, it's not so bad. It feels weird, but the taste isn't actually as revolting as she thought it was. It's sort of just like drinking a glass of water, really. 

The burning itch in the back of her throat eases and the pit in her stomach fills up as the hunger that's been clinging to her since she woke up finally dissolves. It's a relief, though she's aware that she's still somewhat thirsty. Some part of it must show on her face because Kaleb's lights up. 

"How do you feel?" he asks, his mouth curving.

She pauses, thinking it over. "I feel...pretty much the exact same. But hungrier."

Her mom and dad breath out in relief, and she's guessing that's a sign it worked. She watches Josie take a drink from her own glass, her nose slightly scrunched, but a determined look on her face as she swallows some of the blood. 

A beat passes, and Lizzie watches with curiosity. For a brief moment, Josie seems to be just as disgusted by the taste and feeling as Lizzie was. Then, her features slowly relax. 

Lizzie can't help but be surprised when veins crawl up across her face, reaching for her eyes. She's seen enough vampires in her life to know what they look like, especially when hungry, but it somehow slipped her mind in the moment.

Her hand flies to her own face as she quickly runs her tongue over teeth and finds two sharp points. The skin beneath her fingers crawls and moves like a dance, startling her.

"Oh my god," she breathes out, still poking at her teeth with her tongue. "This is so weird. I have fangs. I have freaking _fangs_."

"Yeah, you do," her mom says, and smiles up at her from where she's seated beside her on the floor. "You sort of get used to it after a while, feeling them pop out every time you get hungry. You'll get the hang of controlling them. You both will."

Josie seems just as stunned by the revelation, blinking once, and twice, feeling the shift in her face with her fingers. 

"Don't worry." Kaleb nudges his elbow into Lizzie's arm again, smirking. "It's a good look on you. You can totally pull the whole vampire thing off."

Lizzie smiles at him, feeling it slowly curve into a full-blown grin. She should be freaking out right now. She just drank blood and she is now a vampire. And yet, with the exception of her slightly irregular heartbeat, she feels completely calm. She's even flushing at dumb compliments. Really, she's never felt more alive.

"And now that you have something in common with him, maybe Sebastian will pay more attention to you instead of getting all heart-eyes for Landon," he adds, his smirk growing.

Lizzie gapes at him in disbelief. She's quickly dissolving into laughter though, and she pushes at his arm, sending him off along with her. Her dad's watching her in surprise, and she can't blame him. Her mom's smiling, and Josie seems at least faintly amused. 

Lizzie has to say, being a vampire is off to a great start. She thinks she might adjust to it a lot faster than she was expecting.

* * *

Caroline glances at the girls, passed out on the couch again. Except, this time, they really are just sleeping, curled up on opposite ends. They managed to convince them to get some rest before they did anything else with the promise that they would have some good news for them when they wake back up. She's glad that that's at least the truth.

She turns away from them at Bonnie's hand on her arm, obliging to the little nod of her head she gives and moving off to the side with her. There's something familiar about the look on her face that has her frowning in worry. 

"There's something I should tell you," she starts carefully. It could just be Caroline's imagination, but she's almost positive that she hears a slip of guilt in her voice. 

"Okay," Caroline says slowly, wary, "what is it?"

Bonnie draws in a deep breath which does absolutely nothing to assure her that whatever it is she's about to say is actually going to be good. She waits, her eyebrows raising a little as Bonnie seems to force herself to look her in the eyes.

"I think I have a way to cure the girls," she says. "If that's what they want, of course. And — I know I should have told you sooner, I'm sorry. I just wasn't sure when the right time was. I guess that's sort of a common theme with us right now."

Caroline blinks, her stomach jolting. "Wait, what? How do you — what are you talking about? Bonnie, we can't use the cure, remember?" She gestures in Damon and Elena's direction. "Taking it from Damon would kill him, and even if we waited until he died, I've already promised it to Rebekah."

"I know. That's why I've been working on recreating it."

Caroline stops. She stares at Bonnie, but she has no doubt that she's being truthful. Her heart misses a beat and throws itself completely off course as she quickly looks around them before leaning in and lowering her voice.

"You've been trying to recreate the cure for _vampirism_? How do you even do that? Actually, no—" She shakes her head, her face scrunching as she holds her hands out. "Better question: for how long? We've been travelling together for, like, ten years and you haven't once mentioned a freaking cure!"

"I started after Elena woke up," Bonnie admits, and Caroline gapes at her. "I'm sorry. I know I should have told you, but I didn't even know if I could do it!" She shakes her head, her shoulders dropping from the halfhearted shrug. "I didn't want to give false hope in case it turned out it wasn't possible."

Something sinks inside of Caroline. Any chance of her getting even slightly annoyed vanishes instantly. She always has a hard time being mad at Bonnie, and it never seems to last more than a minute. Especially when she can tell that she had the best intentions. Which just so happens to be all of the time.

"That actually makes sense," she agrees with a quiet sigh. 

Bonnie's eyebrows raise, but the relief is clear on her face. Caroline lets it digest, pulling herself back to Bonnie's main point.

"Okay, wait, so, it worked then? You were able to recreate the cure, which just saying out loud sounds absolutely crazy and impossible." She tilts her head, a small smile pulling at her mouth. "Though, I guess if anyone was going to achieve that it would be you."

Bonnie smiles back, but it falters. "I don't actually know if it worked," she tells her. "It's taken me years to get even close to what I think was the original spell, with a little help from all of my family's grimoires. I managed to create something that I think will do the same as the cure, but I haven't tested it out yet. It's the first time I've been close and I haven't wanted to risk it not working or doing something completely different."

She watches Bonnie reach a hand into her jacket pocket, pulling out a folded-up piece of paper. Upon closer inspection, Caroline recognizes it as one from a Grimoire. The one with the spell for the ascendant, she's sure, but that doesn't exactly clear things up for her as to why she's bringing it out now. 

But Bonnie carefully unfolds it and hands it to her. Caroline takes it in confusion but looks down at it, scanning the page. She stops, reading over it. She turns it over. Sure enough, on the other side is the spell for the prison world. But when she turns it back, it's a completely different spell. One for a cure. 

"This is why you wanted to take the page out of the Grimoire..." she mutters. 

"Part of the reason," Bonnie agrees. "I didn't want Alaric going through it and finding it. Or one of the kids. Kaleb has a habit of going through any Grimoire he can get his hands on, even though he practically rebelled against being a witch."

Caroline turns her thoughts over in her head, digesting it as best she can. It makes sense. Of course Bonnie wouldn't want the spell for the cure out of her sight while she was away from home. It just so happened to be on the other side of the page with a spell they wanted to keep out of Lizzie's and Josie's hands. 

The newest revelation slips to the back of her mind in favour of the main one. Bonnie has been working on a cure, and this is only one of the pages. Probably the most important one from the looks of it. Even if it doesn't work, she has no doubt that Bonnie is close to figuring out how to make it by everything that she's reading. This couldn't have come at a better time.

"Do you think it will work?" she urges, looking up at her. Every part of her trusts Bonnie more than she trusts herself half the time. If she believes in it, then so does Caroline.

Bonnie hesitates. "I might need some time to finish it. There are just a couple more things I have to do with the spell, and I'll probably have to figure out how to double the dose since I only made enough for one as a test."

"Who were you going to test it on?" Caroline asks, her eyebrows knitting together. "Kaleb? I'm not so sure he wants to be cured, and it's not like you'd be able to figure out if it works by yourse..." 

She trails off as Bonnie's eyes dart away and she follows them. The realization hits with another sinking feeling, deep in her chest as her gaze falls to Enzo. There's a smile on his lips as Stefanie talks away to him, Damon, and Elena. It all makes sense. New Orleans, how she reacted to her comment about Enzo outliving her. She was never planning on that happening.

"You were going to give it to Enzo," she says quietly, and it should have been so obvious. Of course that's why she worked for twelve years trying to replicate a centuries-old spell created by her crazy ancestor. She just wanted the life that she thought she had lost all those years ago.

Guilt tugs at her. And here she is taking it away from her. Just like always. As if she didn't already wish she had never dragged Bonnie into searching for a way to undo the merge, taking her away from her family for months on end.

"Yeah, I was," Bonnie says, then turns back to her. "But Lizzie and Josie need this. They were never supposed to turn, and they should have the option to be human again."

"So should Enzo," Caroline counters, shaking her head. "Bonnie..." She throws a hand up, breathing out a sad huff. "You've wanted this for years. A normal life with Enzo. If it weren't for..."

She has to stop herself from saying it as her heart twists. Remembering it hurts too much, that's why she tries not to. It should never have happened. Bonnie doesn't hold the grudge, obviously, if Stefanie is any indication, but Caroline still hates it.

"Caroline," Bonnie takes her hands, holding her gaze. Her eyes are slightly glassy and her face is shifting in that way that makes Caroline ache. Even so, there's a ghost of a smile on her lips. "I love Enzo. And any life I can have with him is good enough for me. And I know that he will understand. He cares about you, and Lizzie and Josie. If either of us tries to offer the cure to him instead of them, he'll probably refuse it."

Caroline knows she's right. Enzo would sacrifice his own happiness in a heartbeat, as he's already proven before. She hates that. No one is supposed to have to sacrifice anything. That part of their life was over. Just for once, she wants them all to be able to get the happiness that they deserve. After everything they've been through.

"You have to be sure," she tells her, holding her hands a little tighter. 

Bonnie's smile grows, though doesn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm sure."

She can hear it. There's sincerity to her words, but buried beneath them is a resigned sadness. It goes far deeper than just this one thing, but it's the main one that's pulling it to the surface now, after so long. Caroline knows that Bonnie wants more than anything to be able to give that cure to Enzo. But she also knows that Bonnie won't let her refuse it, and she can't. It's not for her, but for Lizzie and Josie, and she can't take this away from them if Bonnie is giving it to her. 

"Okay," Caroline says despite everything inside of her still wanting to argue. She nods, pulling herself together like pieces of elastic trying to hold a splitting boat together. A disaster waiting to happen. "How long do you think you'll need to finish it?"

Bonnie blinks quickly and Caroline decides it best not to mention it. It won't change Bonnie's mind.

"Uh, I'm not entirely sure," she answers, shaking her head. "Maybe a day? I don't know if I'm going to be able to make another dose of it, though. It took me years to figure out this one, but I guess it shouldn't be too difficult."

"However long you need," Caroline tells her. "We'll work with whatever you can do. And...thank you, Bonnie."

Bonnie rolls her eyes, her mouth finally curving up into a familiar smile as she scoffs.

"Please, as if I wouldn't do anything for you," she says. 

Caroline smiles back and she pulls Bonnie in by her hands, quickly shifting to wrap her arms around her shoulders. She should be so sick of hugs by now, and yet, it's all she can do. Bonnie lets out a shaky sort of laugh but she presses her face into her shoulder as her own arms wind around Caroline and she hugs her back. 

"Everything alright over there?" Alaric asks, an edge of worry sticking through in his voice. It's light though, and it's the first time in a while that she can say she's heard him anything other than stressed, resentful, or anything else that borders on just plain unhappy in general. 

"Yeah," she answers, not quite letting go of Bonnie even as she looks over at him. She smiles, the reality of it all finally crashing down on her, and it grows. "Yeah, everything's okay. Better than that."

At his arched eyebrow, she glances at Bonnie, sharing a look with her. She nods, and they begin to explain, handing him the page to look over with Bonnie's agreement. It's safe to say that they're all shocked to hear about the possibility of another cure. Caroline can't help but watch Enzo's face, the guilt clawing at her from the inside.

One of the last little pieces of her heart left untouched cracks for the millionth time when she catches the hope light up in his eyes, subtle but sharp and stabbing at her. Even when Bonnie tells them she only has one dose at the moment and the plan for the twins, it doesn't quite fade, only tinted with a shade of something close to sadness. He wouldn't be human if he weren't disappointed at losing the chance to finally live a normal life with his family after just getting within reach of it.

He agrees without hesitation that they should give it to Lizzie and Josie. That somehow only makes her feel so much worse.

Alaric's immediately on board, and Caroline doesn't protest any of it. She has to assume this is what they want until they wake up and make their choice. It's not the best solution, but she's just glad that there are more options.

"You guys should go home," she says to them, nodding in Stefanie's direction. She's curled up on the couch, her head resting on the arm and her eyes fluttering closed every few seconds. "We should all rest. And then..." She sighs, shaking her head. "We can deal with all of this tomorrow."

"Yeah, I should get a start on finishing the cure," Bonnie agrees. "It's going to take at least a day at this rate, but maybe I can get it done for tomorrow and come back with it. The sooner, the better, right?"

It's a rhetorical question, and Caroline only smiles and hums in partially false agreement with her. When she moves to wake Stefanie, Caroline catches Damon and Enzo as they stand, getting ready to leave as well.

"Please, make sure she doesn't stay up all night working on the cure," she says to them, lowering her voice. "She's barely been sleeping for the last week as it is. All of this can wait."

"Don't worry, love," Enzo says with a soft smile, "she'll get some sleep."

"We'll make sure of it," Damon adds reassuringly, giving her a nod and a smile of his own. "And, you do the same as well, alright? No offence, Care-bear, but you look like you haven't been sleeping that well either. Or eating."

He says it pointedly, and Caroline can't help but be reminded of Kol all over again. She rolls her eyes as he spreads his arms, but she accepts the hug, feeling him squeeze slightly. Hugging Damon would have been strange to her many years ago, but she's gotten so used to it that she barely even thinks about it anymore. It's nice in a way that she would never have expected.

"I promise," she jokes, though she knows he means it and his genuine concern for her is enough to sway her to actually do it.

He lingers for just a moment, a hand on the back of her head as he just holds her. She appreciates it, giving her a moment of her own to finally let all of the tension in her melt away at last. She exhales, her eyes closing, and it's like the weight on her chest finally starts to lift. The pain doesn't, but she knows that will go away with a few more hours.

Damon then presses a kiss to her cheek before pulling back, and she smiles at him, opening her eyes to look at him. 

"Good," he says, then turns to Bonnie, Stefanie now fully awake for the most part and ready to leave. 

Caroline quickly pulls Enzo in for a hug, kissing his cheek before doing the same with Bonnie. She almost doesn't want to let her go, even if it's only been a week. Separating has never been something she likes, not even when they were kids. Bonnie seems to understand and hugs her back just as tightly as if thinking the exact same thing.

They break apart, though, and Caroline and Alaric both send them off for the night. Once they leave, Caroline can't help but think the school sounds strangely quiet. There are still faint growls and the scrape of claws against the ground drifting up the stairs from what used to be the cellar, and when she listens, she catches voices here and there of the students that stayed behind for the summer or came back early, tucked away safely in their dorm rooms.

"We should probably get some rest as well," Alaric suggests.

It's somewhat awkward now that they're the only two left in the room with the exception of Lizzie and Josie. They sent MG, Kaleb, and Landon up to their rooms just before convincing Lizzie and Josie to sleep with the promise that they'll be alerted if anything else happens.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Caroline agrees. She gestures to the couch across from the twins. "I'm just gonna crash here, I think."

"You don't have to do that, Caroline," he says quietly, shaking his head. He tilts his head, the corners of his mouth twitching. "This is still your home. And... none of the kids have been put in yours and Stefan's room. I made sure of it."

The weight crashes back down on her. Part of her had assumed that he would have turned it into one of the rooms for the kids by now. After all, the only reason they hadn't was because she couldn't bring herself to do it, but considering she hasn't been staying in the school for a while now she thought he would have done it himself. He always resented that she couldn't let go of the past.

She swallows, considering it. Her eyes move back to Lizzie and Josie. The thought of leaving them down here on their own doesn't sit right with her. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she knows not a thing will have been touched in the room and she can't bring herself to go back into it right now after being away for so long.

"I think I'll just stay down here," she decides. "You know, for them, and..."

She doesn't finish the sentence, but she doesn't need to either. Alaric just nods, offering her a small smile. Instead of wishing her goodnight and heading for his own room, he settles onto the floor in front of the couch the girls are on.

Without a word, she simply sits on the one opposite him, pulling her legs up as she settles down. It won't be the first time she's fallen asleep on that particular couch, at least. If anything, it's perfect. Exactly like old times, as this entire night seems to have been one big trip into the past.

Her phone buzzes as she shifts to stare up at the ceiling. She pulls it out, surprised that it's even still on. Six percent. Reminding herself to put it on charge later, she opens the text. It startles her to read Kol's name. The thought of him ever texting is confusing enough on its own, and she's questioning when exactly she gave him her number during the time they've spent together. 

"Kol, Freya, and Davina are staying at the mansion," she tells Alaric. "They just went for something to eat since it was a long flight. Jetlag and all. He doesn't know where Valerie went, but Tyler and Matt have apparently dealt with Kai's body. Tyler said he'll be back later at some point to check in, but he doesn't want to leave the three of them alone in his house."

"Okay, that's good," Alaric sighs. "Not so assured about Valerie being missing, but I'm sure she'll turn up with them at some point. Thanks for the warning about her coming, by the way. Dorian thought she was another Malivore monster."

Caroline locks her phone back up, placing it on her stomach. She turns her head to look at him.

"Sorry about that. I guess I just wasn't thinking. It was all so crazy and happening so fast, it just..." She shakes her head. "It just slipped my mind. But at least she came. That's all that matters."

"Yeah, I guess."

"I'm tired," Caroline says, sensing the tone in his voice. She smiles carefully. "Can we just leave all of this for tomorrow? It'll be better to go over a plan with everyone back here."

Alaric takes a moment as if wanting to say something else. Instead, he just nods, smiling back. It doesn't even come close to reaching his eyes. He drops her gaze, and that's that.

She turns her eyes back to the ceiling with another twist in her stomach. Tomorrow will be easier. They won't have Kai to worry about. Just the aftermath of him. They can handle that. They've done it before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A cure? Oh my! Please, tell me all of your thoughts on this chapter and what could come next! I'd love to hear all of them! ❤


	26. There's never a right time for anything

The garden is beautiful, full of colour and teeming with life and magic. Everywhere that Josie looks, there are flowers blooming in every colour around her feet. She's at the edge of the woods surrounding the school, her favourite spot, just hidden between a small cluster of trees. Her red dress with the white dots stands out against the bright green grass, but it's her favourite.

It was a present from MG for her fifteenth birthday, sitting on her bed waiting for her when she came back from visiting her mom with Lizzie in Venice. She has a feeling Penelope helped him pick it out considering the look she got while wearing it that day. 

There's a faint breeze whipping around her as she looks over at the school, spreading her fingers through the grass beneath her. It's a nice backdrop to the entire scene. Surprisingly quiet, too. There's usually the sound of at least two people somewhere on campus, and one of the stallions neighing as they're attended to. It's almost a little too perfect. 

She smiles, rolling her eyes. "I thought you said you'd stop coming into my head," she says, and turns to her left.

MG grins at her. He's sprawled so casually across the grass, propped up on his arms, his legs crossed. One of the first things she notices is that his eyes aren't as red as they were last night. In fact, he looks brighter. More alive and back to his usual self.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you alone and I've got the feeling that ain't happening anytime soon out there," he says. "Sorry. I'll leave in a minute, I just came down to check if you were awake but everyone's still asleep. I think your mom was starting to wake up, though."

"You can stay," she says with a shrug. "Every time you do this and leave, I wake up, and I don't want to just yet."

His eyebrows lower slightly, his smile slipping into a concerned frown. "Because of...you know? The whole vampire thing? Are you regretting it?"

Josie shakes her head, and it's the truth. Even right now, while she knows she's still technically asleep, she's sure that she made the right decision. Becoming a vampire was her plan, and she isn't about to regret it when she hasn't even really found out what it's like yet. 

It's not that part she regrets. It's everything else. Kai. She knows she shouldn't, but the guilt is still there, clawing away at her for too many reasons. If she hadn't pushed to look into the ascendant, they would never have found him, and he would never have turned them, and he would still be alive. 

Suffering, but she can't say she would feel all that bad about that part now considering there was no real torture involved. Just isolation, away from everyone he could have hurt. She should have left him there. But now he's dead, and so are she and Lizzie. She quickly pushes the thought away, reminding herself she's in a dream. This is her one safe space. 

"So," she turns onto her side to face MG, keeping herself propped up, "talk to me then. If you came all the way into my head just to have a conversation with me, then might as well make the best of it. What do you want to talk about?"

MG pauses. His eyes move between hers, and despite his claim to want to talk to her alone, he doesn't seem to have any words ready to actually say as if he's at a loss for them. His lips part, but nothing comes out as he just looks at her for a moment.

"Didn't really have anything in mind," he says after a beat, shaking his head lightly. His mouth curves as she tilts her head in confusion. "I just miss you, I guess."

She furrows her eyebrows, but she manages to smile back. 

"I miss you, too," she tells him, then hesitates before continuing. "And...I'm sorry. About not talking to you about any of this. Trust me, I wanted to so many times. And I wanted to talk to you about your mom and Triad, but I just..." She shakes her head. "I could just never find the right time."

"There's never a right time for anything," MG says. He looks away from her, his smile slipping a little, and she feels bad for bringing it up even if she knows that it'll help. "It's not your fault, Jo. Honestly, I avoided talking 'bout my mom and everything that went down. I thought that maybe if I just didn't think about it then it would go away."

"The solution to all of our problems," Josie jokes, and Kai's face is back in her head. If she had ignored it, he would have gone away. He would never have been in her life at all.

It brings MG's smile back to his lips as he lets out a low chuckle and agrees with her. She forces a slight laugh along with him, though it doesn't quite feel right, and she just looks at him instead. It always feels so strange knowing that they're talking inside of her head. Like a vivid dream, she supposes. She wonders if she's a vampire in her head or if MG's fabrication has her back to her witch self. In some of her own dreams, she isn't even human at all.

She glances around, taking it all in with new eyes, knowing that he thought it all up. She lingers on her dress. Her question of whether she's still a vampire or not is answered when she catches a heartbeat that isn't her own, a little off-rhythm as she senses him watching her.

"It looks good on you," he says, and nods his head pointedly at the dress when she lifts her eyes back to him. It's a form of distraction, she is perfectly aware. He's attuned to her feelings a little too well, and she knows that he can sense her mind trying to wander.

"You're only saying that because you got it for me," she teases, deciding to play along. Anything to occupy her right now. "You say it every time I wear it."

"Because it's true!" MG says with a laugh and total sincerity. "I even asked Penelope for help picking it out for you before you got back. And that girl hated me before everything that happened a few months ago, especially while the two of you were dating." 

Josie rolls her eyes and wants to argue that he's wrong, but she knows she can't. It's no secret that they weren't exactly friends. That's why she was surprised when she put the pieces together within a day of having the dress.

"Thank you," she says, smiling at him. "Not just for the flattery, though I do appreciate that." She pauses as he flashes her a bright grin, pleased in that dorky way of his that she's so fond of. "But for everything. Including this. I have no idea what I was dreaming about before, but I know it wasn't nearly as nice as this."

It's not exactly a lie, but she does have a vague feeling that she doesn't want to think about what it was. MG raises a shoulder in a shrug as he looks at her. Something in his expression shifts and changes, softening around his eyes and his smile. It's familiar, and yet she can't help feeling like there's something she's missing that's making him look away from her.

"I just wanted to say hi, that's all," he says, trying to brush it off. "It's no big deal."

"It is to me," she tells him. "After everything that's happened, this was a pretty nice thing to sort of wake up to."

MG's lips part again but nothing comes out, uncertain of how to respond. She just holds his gaze, her head tilting as her smile grows a little more genuine. There's something just so calming about it all. As if they have all the time in the world, nothing else outside of their heads exists. Part of her can't help but wish that were true. 

She faintly wonders if part of his fabrication was to make her at ease, so that she wouldn't focus on everything that's happened. She certainly wouldn't put it past him. 

He resorts to simply accepting the quiet, his lips pressing back together to smile back at her. Nothing in the world is truly perfect, especially in their world, but she thinks this comes close enough. It may not be real, but it certainly feels that way. 

Her heartbeat chimes in with its agreement and an extra beat as MG's eyes shift down, losing focus for just a second. She almost thinks she can hear his breath catch. As he looks back up at her, her insides swoop. 

It's like there's a bird trapped in her stomach, flapping its wings insistently for its escape. Or a million little butterflies all swooping around, brushing against every nerve they can reach, trying to make her understand. Something is just beyond her reach, nearly slipping into her grasp the longer she looks at him, the realization slowly dawning on her.

He seems to start to move, then hesitates, on what, she isn't entirely positive, then shakes his head slowly. "No, this isn't right. You're..." he swallows, glancing back down. "You're not in a good place right now."

Josie takes his words in, processing through them. He's right. She knows that. Her mind is a mess, and everything feels overwhelming no matter how small, even in their dreamscape. But there's a tugging in the back of her mind, and she is certain that it's the only part of her thinking rationally right now. 

"No," she agrees, "but I haven't been for a while, and I'm not sure how long it's going to take for me to be in any sort of a good place."

"That's okay," MG says, lifting his eyes back to her as he shakes his head. "I'll be right there with you the entire way, you know that. No matter what."

"I know," she assures him, and he relaxes a little. She takes in a deep breathe. "But I also know that I really like you, and I can't sit in grief forever. I have to move on, and I have to continue my life. I can't deny myself things or feelings just because of what's happened, that's not — that's not healthy. This is a new chapter, as hard as it's going to be. And I really, really want it to start now, doing something that I know will make me happy."

MG freezes, staring at her with searching eyes, trying to quickly put her words together in a way that comes to some sort of conclusion other than the obvious one he's getting. Life keeps going, and she has to, as well. She leans in, ignoring the thumping protest of her heartbeat. MG's eyes widen, quickly catching on. He doesn't go to move back, frozen still.

There's a jolt somewhere inside of her, and yet all around her like a hook tugging her back. She startles, confused. Then everything dissolves, slipping away, including MG. 

She carefully opens her eyes only to immediately close them again to block out the blinding light. Her head aches just from the split second of exposure to it. It takes her a moment before she risks opening them again, blinking slowly as she squints through the slight blur in her vision.

She turns her head, taking in her surroundings. Everything comes back to her in a rush, and she realizes she's still in the common room, where she fell asleep last night. She goes to rub her eyes, realizes she can't move her right hand, and pauses.

A small smile is already forming on her lips when she turns again, this time following the hand in hers until she meets MG's eyes. He's peering up her with a strange look on his face. He reminds her of a deer caught in headlights. Heat creeps into Josie's skin as the dream comes back to her, and she has a feeling that that might have something to do it.

"Hi," she greets quietly, warmth in her voice, already nervous about what he's going to say or how he's going to react.

His eyebrows raise a little, and _he_ looks nervous and, frankly, a little terrified. His lips part to respond, but the clang of metal against the floor stops him and has Josie jumping out of her skin.

She lifts her head to see over the arm of the couch and finds her mom over by one of the chairs in the corner. Her heart jumps a beat. That definitely explains a lot. Her mom curses under her breath, but the words are sharp and clear in Josie's ears, a reminder that not all of it was a dream after all. 

She quickly retrieves the spoon from the floor, setting it beside the bowl already placed on the table before looking over in their direction. Her face falls and she turns sheepish.

"Sorry, sweetie," she says, wincing with a small smile. 

"It's okay," Josie tells her, but Lizzie groans at that exact moment.

"Why is there so much noise?" she asks, rolling over on the couch as she opens her eyes to glare at them. She starts to sit up, accidentally kicking at one of Josie's legs in the process. "I was having an _amazing_ dream abou—"

She yelps, cutting herself off as her face starts to sizzle, her skin burning and blistering under the stream of sunlight shining in from the large window behind them. Josie and MG both startle as Lizzie quickly ducks back down, covering her head with a scream of pain. 

"Oh my god!" their mom moves in a blur and is drawing the curtains across the window in the blink of an eye, blocking out any trace of sunlight from the room.

Their dad swings around the corner, rushing into the room in alarm. Josie quickly sits up as Lizzie gasps, exhaling heavily as she lowers her arm, slowly lifting her head back up.

"What happened?" he asks urgently, looking between them.

"Are you okay?" Josie asks her, tilting her head to look at her as MG does the same. Her skin has stopped burning, reduced to patches of red. Even they're healing in front of her eyes, though, fading faster than they appeared. 

"Daylight rings," her mom breathes out in a sigh, throwing her hands up. "How the hell did we forget daylight rings?"

Understanding dawns on her dad and he sighs, running a hand over his face as Lizzie looks up. She pokes gently at her cheek with the tips of her fingers while Josie shifts forward on her knees, carefully turning her head to make sure it's actually healing. She knows it will and has, that's how vampires work, and yet, it's not quite sticking in her mind that that's what they are now. 

"They're easy to make, it should only take us five minutes," Josie says, as she drops her hands into her lap. She looks over at her dad, raising her eyebrows. "Do we still have some lapis lazuli stones?"

"Are you allowed to make your own daylight ring?" MG questions, his brow furrowing. "Doesn't that go against some sort of...I don't know, law of magical nature?"

"We're witches and vampires," Josie points out. "I think that everything about us is against a law of magical nature."

He doesn't argue on that. Her dad hurries out of the room to retrieve the stones from where they're stored in the archive room, returning with two of them and two basic sets for the bases of the rings a few minutes later. Even Josie can't quite understand how the fact that they would need daylight rings managed to slip all of their minds. 

She and Lizzie both take one of the stones and the gold settings each, placing them on the arms of the couch. MG offers his hand to her without question. She doesn't point out that she now has a constant source of magic in her own veins as she accepts his hand. The thrum of magic amplifies, relishing in how pulses into her skin as the faint red glow emits from where they touch while Lizzie siphons from their mom. 

Taking enough to do the spell, she lets go of his hand, shooting him a small, grateful smile. Then she turns to the dark blue gemstone that seems to have powers of its own. The black swirls cut through it like waves of its very own magic. She focuses, drawing on the magic she siphoned from MG as Lizzie does the same. 

Josie chants the incantation under her breath just as she's done many times before for countless vampires that have come into the school over the years. The stone shimmers and shifts as if sensing the magic pulling on it. Like a magnet, it draws toward the ring. 

As Josie continues the spell, the ring moulds around the stone, branching out like part of a golden tree. They wrap and curve around the lapis lazuli, setting it in place in the centre. It continues for another few seconds, little finishing touches of delicate swirls that look so simple. She picks the ring up, holding it between her fingers to examine it. 

"Is that it?" MG asks, his eyes shifting between it and her face with curiosity. It's the first time he's ever actually seen the spell performed, having been handed an already made ring when he walked into the school on his first day. 

"Almost," she says, and pauses, looking across at Lizzie. 

She's holding her own ring, an exact opposite of her own. It doesn't surprise her just how intricate it looks, curving and twisting around the stone as if trying to frame it in a heart. All daylight rings are unique, after all.

They move from the couch to the window with their rings. With a shared look, they set them down on the top of the couch, knowing already it'll have the best angle from Lizzie's minor burns that haven't left a trace. They then move back, both grabbing hold of the curtain at their side, then carefully but swiftly pull them back.

Sunlight streams through the window again and Lizzie takes another cautious step back, now eyeing it warily. The rings glint brightly, almost blinding. They make sure not to get too close as they begin enchanting them. It's a good thing they don't actually have to be holding the ring in the sunlight or else they'd have to wake up one of the other witches or wait for Aunt Bonnie to get back.

Within a few seconds, it's over. Lizzie hesitates to move, eyeing her ring cautiously. Josie steps back over to the couch, careful to avoid the stream of light, then snatches her ring up. The skin on the back of her hand burns and sizzles loudly at the brief exposure, but she's quick to slip her ring onto the third finger of her right hand. 

When she reaches back out experimentally to grab Lizzie's, she pauses, holding her breath. But even as the light hits her hand, nothing happens. No burning. She breathes out a sigh of relief and tosses Lizzie her own ring. Lizzie slips it onto the middle finger on her left hand then carefully holds it out, edging past the safety of the curtains. Once again, nothing happens.

"Oh thank god," she quickly says, and steps forward, right into the middle of it. "If I had to stay inside without ever seeing the light of day ever again, I think I would actually go mad. I'd be like Rapunzel."

"Rapunzel was kidnapped and forced to live in a tower by an evil lady who wanted her for her magical hair," MG says, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion. 

Lizzie glares. "Obviously without _that_ part. This is practically a tower, and I would be forced to live out the rest of my immortal days in it."

"Then you would be Dracula," MG says slowly, his eyes narrowing. "Surely that makes more sense than Rapunzel."

She just stares at him for a moment and Josie bites her lip. Lizzie opens her mouth then swiftly closes it as she drops the subject altogether and turns her attention back to her ring. She holds it up to examine it better in the light as Josie shares a look with MG. 

"Alright," her dad sighs. "Now that you're both awake and we have that sorted..." Something passes between him and her mom, too cryptic for her to read. "We have something else we need to talk to the two of you about."

Josie's stomach drops through the floor and her heart is already hitting against her ribs. She and Lizzie look at each other, worry quickly falling over them. Surely things can't get worse. They said they would have good news, and yet, the look on their faces isn't giving enough away for her to be able to be sure.

"It's not bad," their mom hurries to assure them with a shake of her head, her eyes widening. "It's actually... sort of good."

"Okay," Lizzie says slowly, doubtful. "We're listening."

Her dad pauses, looking pointedly at MG. His eyes widen, the meaning catching on. He quickly points away as if to make a hasty departure, nodding a little too vigorously as her dad just gives him a tight-lipped smile. Josie catches his eyes as he leaves. There's a promise to find her later, and she nods in agreement. 

Once he's out of the room, Josie turns back to her parents along with Lizzie. They both stare at them in question.

Her mom takes in a deep breath, then says, "so, here's the thing." 

* * *

Their mom and dad both explain it to them. A cure. For vampirism. How Aunt Bonnie managed to replicate the old one and has possibly created some new version of it that she is offering to them. Lizzie can only sit in silence, gaping at them in disbelief as she tries to process through it. 

Josie's no better — she's barely blinking as she listens to them, her eyes a touch wider and her lips parted as if she wants to speak but has no idea where to start. It's no wonder, either. The only thing they ever heard of to do with a cure was when they were kids and their Uncle Damon told them how he used to be a vampire, and when their Aunt Elena explained. Lizzie never thought that replicating it would be possible, and she never really had much of a reason to spare it a second thought.

It's not exactly as if her mom wants the cure, and pretty much every vampire that she's met doesn't seem to mind the life all that much. Though, she supposes, they were certain their only choice was to adjust. They never thought there was a third option, so of course they would make the best of things.

She wonders in the back of her mind if that's how Kaleb feels. She heard the tone of his voice when he talked about the accident. Maybe he's not as okay with being a vampire as he's made it seem. It's obvious that MG isn't, but what about all of the ones who act like it was the best thing to ever happen to them?

"So... we just turned into vampires and now there's a way to cure us?" Josie asks uncertainly, her voice doubtful.

"Possibly," their dad quickly corrects, but nods. "But...we think so. Your aunt Bonnie is working on it, but she thinks it'll be done by the end of the day if she can get it to work."

"Wait, so, we don't know if it's actually going to work?" Lizzie asks. "Great. We're basically human lab rats. Or...vampire lab rats — you know what I mean! What if this thing doesn't even work? Or what if it has some weird side-effect that makes us bald or our eyes fall out?"

Everyone stares at her. She shrinks back a little and shrugs. Josie rolls her eyes, but the look on her face is telling her that she's just as concerned about the possible side-effects and risks that taking an experimental cure will involve. Maybe they're not worried about the exact same scenarios, but there's still doubt.

"If you don't want to take it, you don't have to," her mom gently tell them. "We just wanted to give you the choice."

Their dad stops, looking at her as if she's lost her mind. That's usually the start of nothing good, and Lizzie's already preparing herself for the argument to unfold. She just looks at him, raising her eyebrows as if daring him to say what he so clearly wants to.

He falters and his eyes dart back over them. Something shifts, subtle but clear to Lizzie's observant gaze. He presses his lips back together, a small twitch at the corners of his mouth, and nods, agreeing with their mom. Even so, there's a tension in the air. An expectation.

"I think we just need some time to think about it," Josie replies and turns to her. "Right, Lizzie?"

It's pointed, and her eyebrows lift the tiniest bit as she silently begs her. Lizzie agrees without hesitation. It's best for everyone at the moment, and honestly, some time to think on it wouldn't be the worst thing. The risks could far outweigh the possibility of being human again, and this isn't exactly a decision to be made lightly. She has to be sure. 

"Not that I don't trust Aunt Bonnie," Lizzie says, "but I think waiting for her to actually get here and explain it to us sounds like a better idea. No offence to either of you, obviously, just, she's the one who created this magical mystery cure."

"We completely understand," her mom says, nodding with a small smile. "You girls take as much time as you need, alright?"

Her dad agrees again and smiles wearily at them. Lizzie knows he's just worried about them. It's all he ever is these days, after everything that's gone down with Malivore and now this. She understands him just wanting this whole thing over as much as she does.

Something flickers in his expression, and he glances at her mom. A look passes between them, and the air in the room feels too thick to breathe in properly. Lizzie faintly tries to recall if vampires need to breathe. She's sure they do; something about how they can drown comes back to her from one of the stories Uncle Damon told her. 

"We should never have let it get this far," her mom goes on, looking back at the two of them with such regret. "You shouldn't have to make this decision at all. If we had just..."

She falters, looking down, and Lizzie's stomach twists painfully. She hates seeing her mom upset. When she gets upset, Lizzie gets upset, and it always makes her feel guilty. 

Her dad sucks in a shaking breathe, and continues for her, saying, "if we had just told you girls the truth about...Kai, and the prison world, and...all of it. None of this would have happened. And..." he shakes his head, having to swallow now, "...we are so sorry. We just thought..."

"We thought we were protecting you," her mom says, and scoff at her own words as a tear slips down, quickly pulling another down with it. "We were so wrong. This was your lives, but all we could think about was how much damage Kai had already done to you girls. We didn't want to give him another chance. But that didn't mean we had to keep it all from you."

Lizzie stays quiet, her teeth digging in hard to the inside of her cheek to stop the sting in her eyes. But even with her hand curled tightly around Josie's, having found it without really searching, it's impossible. When she glances at Josie, she finds her eyes wet and glistening, and her mouth has twisted at one corner to try and prevent it. 

"You deserved the truth," her dad says, swallowing down the crack in his voice as he shakes his head, looking between them. "Not any of this. And we just...hope you can forgive us for this. We love you both so much."

"So much," her mom echoes, nodding as she bites her own lip to hold back the tears still rolling down. "We are so sorry."

The last part breaks Lizzie. The tears, and their voices, and the complete heartbreak and guilt over failing them in such a huge way. She shakes her head as everything inside of her swirls around like the building of a storm. 

"Of course we forgive you," she breathes out, the idea of doing anything else ridiculous. 

Josie nods quickly in agreement, the action jerky and unsteady. "We know you didn't mean for this to happen."

The relief fills the air, thinning it back out enough for Lizzie to be able to breathe properly again. Her dad sinks, hanging his head, and her mom closes her eyes, trying to even her own breathing. Lizzie quickly pushes off of the couch and pulls her into a hug, Josie already doing the same with their dad. 

It was all just one big mess, really, Lizzie thinks as they both murmur things about never lying to them again, and promising they'll always protect them, and telling them how much they love them. She was angry at first, of course, but after everything, she's just grateful that they're all alive. Her family is okay. For now, that's all that matters to her. 

They stay like that for a moment, shaking voices and stinging eyes, and tight hugs that none of them really want to end. Then they slowly pull apart, Lizzie pulling herself back up onto the couch a second after Josie does. They all compose themselves before even considering continuing with anything, pulling themself back together as best they can. 

"Now," her mom says, and draws herself up, sniffling as she wipes at the corner of her eye, "I think it's time for the original good news. We could definitely use it."

With perfect timing comes a knock from the doorway. They look over and Lizzie immediately recognizes the three people from yesterday. Her mind pushes and tugs, and her tongue rolls against the top of her mouth with names that she can't quite grasp onto enough to be able to form.

There's something so familiar about them, sort of like with her uncle Enzo at the practice game. For a brief flicker of a moment, Mikaelson is the only word standing out in her mind but she brushes it off as ridiculous.

"Thought I heard something," the man says as he takes casual strides into the room, a cat and canary sort of smirk seeming to be permanently etched onto his face. "You know, I had forgotten just how nice that mansion was. Such a shame that Bekah never made things serious with Matt. I would have loved to have a reason to go back there more often."

Her mom rolls her eyes and her dad looks away with an expression that tells her he isn't so fond of their guest. And they're back to normal, just like that. Lizzie can't help a small smile. 

"Good morning to you too, Kol," her mom says dryly before glancing at the two women hovering in the doorway with a nod of greeting, as warm as if they were old friends. Lizzie supposes they could be for all she knows, though her mom has always just had a way with people.

"Wait," Josie's red-rimmed eyes have widened, glancing from the man to her mom, "Kol? As in...Mikaelson?"

Lizzie stops as Kol's smirk grows, so clearly pleased, and their mom confirms it. She gapes at him in disbelief and shares a quick look with Josie, both of them clearly thinking the same thing. They joked about running into the Mikaelsons in the prison world, but Lizzie was almost certain that they would never actually meet any of them.

And now one is standing in their home acting like he's best friends with their mom.

She can't help but faintly wonder how she already knew who he was. Maybe he was mentioned in the same book that talked about his brother, Klaus. It would make sense to mention all of them. She just has to hope Kol isn't as murderous as Klaus.

"I am flattered," Kol says, looking at her parents. "You told your kids about me? I suppose it would be too much to hope that you left out all of the more unpleasant interactions we had?"

"All of them were unpleasant," her dad says bluntly. "You're lucky I'm even letting you in here right now."

Kol points an accusing finger at him. "To be fair, you did try and kill me and my siblings. In fact, Jeremy did kill me."

"Because your crazy witch of a mother turned me into a vampire to kill you! Because you came into town with the rest of your siblings trying to kill us, and then you tried to kill Jeremy!"

So much for less murderous.

"I only wanted to cut his arms off! And you were trying to raise Silas!" Kol counters like even the thought of doing so should have been out of the question. "Which you ended up doing anyway, I heard. Nice going on that, by the way. My idea of cutting Jeremy's arms off wasn't so bad after all then?"

"Woah," Josie says quietly, blinking slowly, trying to process it all at once.

"Wasn't so—you are completely insane! You know wha—"

"What Ric is trying to say," her mom quickly cuts in, shooting him a sharp, pointed look before turning back to Kol, "is that we're grateful for your help. Yours, and Davina's and Freya's."

Lizzie's head tilts as she looks over at the two women being addressed. Freya. Davina. Mikaelson, she presumes. Also strangely familiar. This time, though, she can put it down to reading about them right away. That has to be it. And yet, she can't help but think that she's seen them somewhere before. The book doesn't have pictures last time she checked, and the chances of her mom having any have slimmed.

"What exactly are they helping with?" Josie asks carefully, glancing between them.

"That's what we want to talk to you about," her mom says, pulling Lizzie's narrowed gaze away from the three of them. The guilt returns to her face all over again as she continues. "You both know that when we've told you I was trying to find new students to recruit for the school, I was actually searching for a way to prevent the merge."

They both nod, and Lizzie presses her lips together. She's not exactly angry anymore, already feeling the exhaustion of crying kick in, but she still wishes that they had known what their mom was doing sooner. Maybe they could have helped fix this mess before it became an even bigger one.

Though, them trying to help find a fix to it themselves lead to them in a prison world and being turned into vampires, so she supposes that maybe it was for the best that they weren't allowed to do that. It doesn't make her any happier about it.

"Well..." her mom draws in a breath, sharing a look with her dad. "We found a way to break the curse. Now—"

She holds her hands up, her eyebrows furrowing as she shakes her head before either of them can react.

"—we're not entirely sure what's going to happen with the two of you now being vampires and how that affects this whole thing, but I think it's safe to say that we shouldn't take any risks and should assume that the curse could still affect you both when you turn twenty-two."

"Wait, so you think that us being...heretics, wouldn't be enough to stop it?" Josie asks.

Lizzie studies her discreetly. She sounds disappointed, sure, which Lizzie understands. She's disappointed, too. The details weren't quite clear, and it hadn't been at the top of the list of things in her mind right now, but she had just been sort of assuming that being vampires might mean that they were in the clear. 

But the way that Josie says it. It has to be her imagination. It's not as if Josie wanted this. It wasn't part of the plan. Except... she can't help but wonder now how it is that Josie turned. The only reason that Lizzie is even alive right now is that she had the better sense to not trust Kai. He said something about Josie's newfound undead status being thanks to him. Kai could have forced his blood on her after he killed Lizzie. 

"We can't be sure, but...no, we don't think so," her dad answers. "That's why we think we should still undo the curse put on the Gemini Coven. At least that way, even if the spell doesn't work, we'll know that you won't have to do the merge."

"Okay," Lizzie says slowly, eyeing Kol, Davina, and Freya, "so, what do we have to do? And, pray tell, how does it involve three people that we've never met before and are apparently Mikaelsons, which is really messing with my head."

"Yeah, to be honest, I'm still unclear on that part as well," her dad says and looks around at them all with her, raising his eyebrows. It's clear he isn't quite as informed on the plan as the rest of them seem to be. 

"Well, our aunt Dahlia who is known for stealing firstborn children of powerful witch bloodlines tried to do exactly that with a little coven that would later be known as the Gemini's courtesy of her," Kol explains with a tone so casual he could simply be discussing the news.

Lizzie's eyes have already narrowed again, the metaphorical cogs in her mind working faster than he can speak. 

"They didn't like it, and she didn't appreciate being told no," he continues with a shrug. "So, being the crazy old witch that she was, she decided to exact a little revenge with a tricky little curse that she thought would force them to give in. It did not, and she is now dead, which leaves me and my dear sister, Freya, being the only ones that can apparently fix her mess. Which, I think sums up a vast majority of my family history in general, really."

"You were the one always creating the messes for our siblings to clean up," the one who Lizzie is presuming to be Freya says with a bit of bite and a halfhearted glare. By the sounds of it, she was never one of those siblings. Lizzie really needs to reread that book. 

Kol's words sink in though, and her thoughts race to connect the pieces before it can be voiced.

"Hold on," her dad says, staring up at him in suspicion. "So, what you're saying is that your family cursed the Gemini Coven to have to do the merge? And now... what, your family is the only one who can undo it?"

"My aunt cursed them," Kol corrects as if it makes all the difference. "And yes, precisely. Well," he glances back at Freya and Davina, then over to her mom with a slight tilt of his head, "sort of. The blood and power of a living, human Mikaelson is one of the key ingredients. There are only three."

"What are the others?" Lizzie asks warily.

Spells are always tricky, and one like this? She hates to imagine what they could possibly need to do undo a curse put on an entire coven that even they themselves couldn't find a way to free themselves from. 

"One of them is your aunt Bonnie," her mom says. "See, the curse was bound by a Bennett witch, so only her bloodline can unbind it. Along with someone from the Mikaelson line."

"I'm beginning to think that Bonnie's entire bloodline is connected to the Gemini Coven," her dad says, sounding bitter.

"And the last was my aunt's idea of some sort of irony, I suppose," Kol continues as if he never spoke, either purposefully ignoring him or simply not deeming his comment in need of a reply.

Or he caught her mom rolling her eyes with an exasperated shake of her head and decided to save them all.

"A siphoner," Kol explains. "When placing the curse on the coven, she decided to throw in an extra twist of the knife. Witches born without powers of their own. It was perfect in her eyes for her scheme but ultimately failed. And now, will work in our favour of undoing it all."

Lizzie stops, her stomach dropping. She holds up a hand. "Wait...she created siphoners?"

"As part of the curse?" Josie finishes for her, her voice small and quiet.

Kol's eyes flick to their mom, and even their dad seems to be startled by the revelation. A sigh flutters past her mom's lips as she looks at the two of them, sadness etched into her features. Lizzie's having a hard time wrapping her head around that thought.

"It doesn't matter what her intentions were," she tells them both firmly, but gentle and soothing. It's the same voice she would use when they had nightmares about strange things that didn't make any sense to them, like a strange woman with a song-like voice. "Your powers are _yours_, and they're not any type of curse."

Lizzie's never really considered being able to siphon magic a burden or something that made her a total outcast from the rest of the witches. In fact, she's never met a witch who's been anything but in awe of her abilities. Knowing it was supposed to be a curse, all just part of some scheme should hurt her and make her mad. Yet, she doesn't really feel any of that.

She glances at Josie; there's a crease between her eyebrows, a thoughtful, confused look on her face as she digests the new information about their abilities. There's nothing that says she was even thinking that they're cursed. If anything, she just looks as if she's trying to figure out how it would benefit this random witch.

Lizzie's figured out by now that attempting to put herself in the head of crazy people doesn't work. She prefers to leave them to their own, twisted logic and stay in her bubble of sanity. Josie's always been different that way, as proven by Satan herself.

"Speaking of," Kol pipes back up, his eyebrows furrowing as he looks around. "Has that rather lovely heretic girl not come back yet? Valerie, was her name, yes? She was oddly quiet, though certainly reminded me of Bekah. Does she always have a habit of just standing in corners and glaring?"

"If she's around me, then yes," her mom says with another little sigh. She then shakes her head, ignoring Kol as he raises his eyebrows. "No, she isn't back yet. I was hoping she would be, but I'm starting to get the feeling that she's already left town. Can't entirely say I blame her."

"We can still perform the spell without her," the other girl who Lizzie has deemed Davina says pointedly. She nods her head toward the two of them and lifts her eyebrows. "She's not the only siphoner."

Lizzie perks up, intrigued. So far, she hasn't heard any mention of her and Josie being allowed to get involved, and as strange as it is, she actually wants to do something to help. Other than getting herself turned into a heretic, as everyone seems to be putting it.

Really just a fancy word for hybrid, she thinks. She's not going to be one to complain about being in a species of her own, though. Maybe now she'll get a seat on the honour council. 

"The whole point of bringing Valerie here was to avoid that," her mom says, and Lizzie watches Josie's shoulders droop, immediately sinking back down in disappointment. "We don't know if it would still work the same, especially now, and I just don't think we sh—"

"We want to do it," Lizzie quickly interrupts, widening her eyes. 

Her mom stops and looks over at her. She falters, her lips parting, and Lizzie already knows what's coming. It's a good thing that she grew up with her for a mother.

"That's the whole reason that Jo and I even went to the prison world," she admits. "We thought we could find a way to stop the merge ourselves, and... Kai seemed like he could help. Clearly, that didn't work out so well for us, but — we still want to do something. Whatever it is, please..."

Her mom hesitates, but Lizzie doesn't waver for even a second, looking her in the eyes and silently pleading with her. In truth, she already feels bad enough about the fact that they even ended up in this situation. If she had said no to going into the prison world then they would never have met Kai, he would never have escaped, and they would be human. She needs to be able to do _something_ good.

"I don't think it could hurt to let them do it," Freya says, finally walking further into the room, Davina following. She raises a shoulder in a half-shrug. "All they would have to do is siphon while the spell is being performed. I'm still not entirely sure on how this works, but I imagine that not much can really go wrong."

"Oh, there's always a way," her dad says darkly, but he looks at her mom. "I think we should let them do it, Caroline. We need a siphoner to complete the spell, and Valerie's probably miles away at this point if she's smarter than the rest of us. We don't exactly have many other options unless you want to call in that witch that resurrected Tyler and Enzo and get her to do the same with one of the other heretics."

Lizzie gapes at them. "There were other heretics?" she asks in disbelief. "Did you seriously forget to mention that an entire other_ species_ that has powers like ours exists?"

She turns to Josie, expecting her to be just as shocked and outraged. Instead, she's surprisingly calm. As if this isn't news to her at all but is at least giving it a good go at pretending that she didn't already know. She's never exactly been the best liar, at least while being scrutinized.

"Kai told me about them," she admits quietly, her voice hesitant. "He never mentioned names or how many there were, but he just sort of explained the whole vampire-siphoner thing."

"Oh great," Lizzie throws her hands up, quickly crossing her arms, "so basically I'm the last to know everything at this point."

"Are you absolutely positive that you aren't their biological mother?" Kol asks, looking at her mom, clearly amused. "Because I swear, I would not be able to tell the difference. I suppose it's just a sign of your good influence on them. It's rather fascinating." 

Lizzie stares up at him, her eyes narrowing. "You are so weird, has anyone ever told you that?"

"Lizzie!" Josie hisses, eyeing Kol as if he's about to show the famous Mikaelson colours and attack.

She rolls her eyes, waving her off. "Relax, he's probably harmless. I mean, there aren't any books calling him_ 'The Great Evil.'"_

Kol laughs, his eyebrows raising as his amusement only grows. Davina even snorts and she and Freya share a look. Completely harmless. Maybe the Mikaelsons are just misunderstood. So far, she hasn't seen one sign of the so-called evil that they're supposed to be inflicting upon the earth. They're about as murderous or monster-like as a British Santa Claus and his elves.

"Shockingly, little witch, you are not the first to tell me that," Kol says, his voice still shaking with laughter. "Though, certainly the first to do so with so much boldness. Truly your mother's daughters, both of you — you know, it's funny," he points at her mom, his grin widening, "I can recall the first time I met your mother. It was in a bar, just down the street. She was just as feisty, and I remember how she―"

"I think we've had enough history lessons in this school for now," her mom quickly interrupts him, her eyes a little too wide and tone a little too sharp. Lizzie can't read the look she sends him, but it's certainly effective.

He concedes, holding his hand up in mock surrender before dropping it back to his side. His smirk doesn't fade for even a second, though, and Lizzie can't help but be curious. She definitely wasn't aware that her mom had any sort of history with the Mikaelsons. Aside from Klaus, of course, but it took Josie telling her for her to even know that. 

Her mom gives a short sigh and turns back to them. "Okay. You can both help with the spell."

Lizzie brightens, any questions of her mom's past immediately pushed aside for the time being. 

"Great. So, when do we start?" she asks eagerly. If this actually works, they'll really be free of the coven once and for all. The sooner they do it, the better in her opinion. They can finally move on and focus on everything else. Like the cure. 

"Today, I hope?" Freya jumps in, addressing Lizzie's mom. "As much as I want to help, I've already been away from my family longer than I intended. If I don't get back to them soon, I can guarantee they're going to come looking for me."

"Of course," her mom says, nodding in agreement. "No, of course. We'll do it today. We'll just...wait for Bonnie, and then we can start the spell. And, again, I am so sorry about coming to you. Seriously. I never wanted to bring you all the way out here."

"I offered, remember?" Freya glances at Lizzie and Josie, a small smile forming on her lips. "Besides, I'm happy to help. My aunt caused this, and it's only right that I help undo it. Neither of you deserves to have to deal with any of this."

The last part is aimed at the two of them. Josie smiles back. Lizzie can't shake that little tug in the back of her mind that is desperately trying to figure out why this feels so normal. Something about Freya is incredibly familiar, even talking to her like this, and she can't for the life of her figure out why. Even the way she looks at them as if she _knows _them.

Maybe it's the vampire senses. They might just be throwing her off balance. She'll have to ask her mom or Kaleb if that's one of the things that come along with it. If it is, then it's already getting on her nerves. 

"Alright, well, in that case, I think we're going to need a better place to do the spell," her dad says, looking around the common room. "Dorian's already mad enough at me as it is, I don't think that asking him to keep the room clear for another day is going to go over well."

"The old mill," Josie suggests right away, sitting upright. 

Lizzie catches her mom shift uncomfortably. She frowns but brushes it off, even when she seems to glance in Kol and Freya's direction with something close to worry. Something in the back of her mind clicks into place and she has a vague memory of the one Mikaelson she does remember meeting.

Her stomach twists and she's sure she feels guilty for something. She just can't quite grasp onto the memory hard enough to actually come up with a good enough reason for why. Only that it took place at the Old Mill and involved using her powers.

"Perfect," her dad says without noticing the shift in either of them. He then turns to her mom. "Now that that's sorted, we still have a few things to talk about. Especially since the summer break is coming to an end and I'm technically not even supposed to still be here. Can we...?"

He's already standing, gesturing off toward the door. The hesitation is written all over her mom's face, but she nods all the same. Lizzie may not be the best at picking up on other people's feelings, but she's certain that her mom has just clammed up, clearly wanting nothing more than to avoid that conversation forever, if possible. That's certainly not new, at least.

* * *

Caroline and Alaric take Kol, Davina, and Freya with them. Kol says something about how he wants to take a better look around his home town in the daylight. Something about feeling nostalgic. Alaric scoffs.

She just tells him not to anger anyone, informing him that there's a new sheriff supposed to be starting soon. She may not be living in Mystic Falls, but she keeps herself updated on everything going on. Plus, Matt likes to fill her and Bonnie in while they're away in the hopes that it'll convince them to come back sooner. 

Kol's face immediately lights up with that devious look that only a Mikaelson can get right with the feeling of dread crawling up her spine. He promises to be on his best behaviour, then walks away. Caroline looks to Davina and Freya and they both assure her that he really is harmless now before following after him.

"He's about as harmless as a vampire serial killer." Alaric widens his eyes, turning and walking into the administration office. "Oh wait, that's exactly what he is. My mistake. I was beginning to think he was our friend with how you're cosying up to him."

Caroline's the one scoffing now, shaking her head as she follows him into the room. 

"Don't start with that," she says. "Kol is helping us. Without him, we wouldn't even know how to break the curse, nor would we have the means to actually do it. Unless you have some secret, non-vampire Mikaelson hiding around here somewhere."

"I just don't feel that great about letting a man that tried to murder countless people, and actually has killed more people than I can count, near our daughters," he says, moving behind the desk.

"Oh, so they're our daughters now?" Caroline asks in mock confusion, her voice tightening as she crosses her arms. "Funny. I was under the impression that they were yours. I mean, that's what you said, right? That I'm not their mother?"

Alaric stops. He still doesn't look up at her, his eyes focused on the desk. That only makes her angrier. He can't even have the decency to look at her, as if he has more important things to worry about. 

She was fine with being civil for Lizzie and Josie's sake, and for a moment back there, she was almost alright with letting it go completely. But she can't, not if she wants to be able to move on from this properly. He closes his eyes and sighs.

"You know I didn't mean that," he says, and she falters at the sincerity in his voice. Then, he shakes his head, his jaw clenching, and he looks up at her. "But, can you really blame me? You still should have been here, and you know, maybe at least consulted me on bringing _them_ into my home."

"_Your _home?" Caroline scoffs again in disbelief, her anger flaring back up in the blink of an eye. "Are you forgetting I lived here before you did? This is as much my home as it is yours, whether I live here or not."

"That's the point, Caroline! You don't live here!" Alaric explodes, saying it as if it should have been obvious. "You're never here for the girls when they need you, excluding the last two days, and I — they do need you! Not just for a weekend, or a couple of months! That's one of the reasons why they went into the prison world. Because you delayed coming home instead of being here to help me figure out how to tell them all of this."

Caroline reels back in shock, staring at him. He doesn't even waver or seem surprised by his own words. After that entire talk they just had with Lizzie and Josie, she was sure that they were on the same page, at least about this. 

"You're blaming me for this?" she says quietly. He doesn't respond and there's a tugging beneath her ribs followed by the feeling of an elastic band snapping. "Are you kidding me right now?! On what — on what planet is this my fault?! I told you not to lie to them about why I was delayed in coming home, which, I'm guessing you went ahead and did anyway?"

"So you think it's my fault then?" Alaric asks, sidestepping her question and answering it at the same time.

Her eyebrows furrow and she shakes her head incredulously, throwing her hands out.

"No, Ric," she says, "I don't think it's your fault. Because I would never blame you for something like this. And I can't believe that you would ever try and make me feel guilty about trying to find a way to save our daughters. Ours. Because, yes, I am their mother, whether you like it or not."

She just shakes her head again, folding her arms back over her chest. Guilt pushes at her as he continues to stay silent, and she immediately wonders if she could have phrased that better. She just sighs, looking away from him. 

"I know this isn't how you wanted this to go," she tells him, unable to keep the bitter edge out of her voice. "Your family. I know that I am not supposed to be their mom, and I am _sorry_ that Jo isn't here instead. And I am not trying to make you feel bad, but can you just, for a second, remember that I carried them for nine months for you? That I didn't complain once about being pregnant with someone else's children. And that it was you who told me all those years ago, when the town was about to be destroyed by hellfire and I wanted to save my husband, that Lizzie and Josie need me. That they need their _mother_."

Alaric just looks at her and she sees his expression shift and twist, morphing from regret to guilt, to shame, even. She doesn't like this. In fact, she hates it. Arguing with him never brings her any sort of joy, and she hates bringing up the past, but it's like it's the only way he communicates anymore.

It's a constant stream of making her feel guilty about not being there, self-loathing, reminders of every little thing from their past and crying for nights on end because she_ hates_ it. And she's sick of it. 

"I'm sorry," he says at last, quiet, and she wants to believe him. He sounds sincere. "It was in the heat of the moment, okay? And..." he sighs. "I know that's not the point. I shouldn't have said it in the first place."

"But you did," Caroline counters, unable to stop herself. "Why? Is that still how you see me, even after everything? As your friend—your_ student_—who agreed without question to carry your children even though you never technically asked, and was willing to not be involved in a single part of their lives when it was all done? As just a surrogate that you were hoping you could forget ever even had any part of it at all?"

"No," Alaric says, shaking his head, his face twisting. "No, of course not, Caroline. It just...honestly, it just slipped out. I've been stressed out, and with summer coming to an end, and now all of this— "

He steps toward her, and she forces herself to stay rooted to the spot. He reaches out for her arms and she tenses instinctively. She closes her eyes, dropping her head, but if he notices the change in her, he doesn't comment on it. She can't help but be able to smell the faint trace of alcohol on him and thinks that explains a few things.

"I am sorry, Care," he repeats, his voice low. "I really didn't mean it. Of course you're their mom. You helped me raise them, and they love you. And I know you love them."

"Then you need to stop doing this," she says, lifting her head and staring him in the eyes. "I get that you were angry, and you were worried. I was, too. But that doesn't give you any right to constantly vilify me for being away for so long or make me feel like I'm nothing to Lizzie and Josie. You cannot keep throwing this back in my face, Ric. We talked about this, after Seline. It's not fair."

"I know," he quickly agrees, nodding. "I know. And I won't, ever again. It's not true, and I — I don't think it."

She hesitates, uncertain. He said that last time as well. But she still wants to believe him, and right now, it'll make things easier if she just does. It was one heat of the moment argument. She can put it behind her.

"Okay then," she says, and it's like a tiny weight lifts off of her chest. "Now, about Kol. I understand you not wanting him around the girls or trusting him. I've already told you why he's here, and I know you don't like it, but he can actually help us and is willing to. If he's not here, then neither is Freya, and we need her. And Davina's magic will help the spell. We need all three of them. Besides, if Jeremy can be friends with him after everything, then I think we can put our differences behind us."

Alaric frowns as his hands slide back to his sides. "Jeremy's friends with Kol?"

Caroline finally unfolds her arms. "Apparently. Something about how Jeremy ran into him in New Zealand and Kol helped him out with one of the hunts. I don't know, we talked about it on the flight to New Orleans, I was exhausted, I didn't get all of the details."

"Well, he definitely failed to mention that when he brought Landon and Rafael back a few months ago." Alaric stops. "Rafael. He's still out in the woods."

Caroline's eyes widen. "What do you mean he's still out in the woods? Why is he in the woods?"

"Because — it's a long story, but I need to find him. I already stopped Landon from going after him, and with the full moon last night, anything could have happened."

Caroline faintly wonders if he means anything could have happened to him or someone else. She's sure she remembers Lizzie saying Rafael was a new student and a werewolf. A werewolf out in the woods of Mystic Falls on a full moon never ends well.

"I'll help you look," she decides. "Will Dorian be alright with looking after the school while we're out?"

Alaric makes a face and she's guessing that it's not likely. She knows Dorian well enough to know that the chances of him being alright with it are slim. She's honestly surprised he hasn't taken a page out of Valerie's book by now and left this place the first chance he got. The reminders of Stefan can't be much fun for him for completely different reasons.

"He already has been for the last day, so I think he might not mind a couple more hours," Alaric says and starts walking back toward the open door, which Caroline is regretting after their heated conversation. He glances back at her over his shoulder, joking, "maybe we should give him the promotion as headmaster."

She snorts but tilts her head, considering it. "He's not the worst option. And he already has the trust of the kids. Which," she raises her eyebrows at him, the humour dropping for a moment, "we still need to talk about."

Alaric grimaces, but nods, pausing in the doorway. "Yeah, we will. Just...not now."

"Fine, but that weird traveller anti-magic thing better not still be down in the tunnels," she warns him. "I can't believe you even had that and put it there without telling me."

"Caroline," he says.

She rolls her eyes but holds her hands up. "Fine, fine. Later. We do need to make sure that we have a new headmaster for the school, though. Next semester starts up in two days."

"I haven't gotten any word back from Dorian on that Vardemus guy," Alaric informs her, and nods his head at her. "You?"

"No, but there's still time," she says, even if her voice isn't too convincing and she considers the possibility that she might have to return to the school full-time right away after all. "Hopefully he'll get back to us. He's a sorcerer, I mean, that would be great for the kids."

"Yeah, well, we'll wait and see on that."

Alaric walks out of the room. She jumps to attention and is quick to follow.

"And while we're on it, we still need to talk about the fact that you've got every vampire in the school on the Stefan diet," she calls after him. "And are lying to them about it. That wasn't the agreement we made!"

"Make a list," Alaric calls back. "It'll be easier to remember all the ways in which I've messed up that way."

Caroline pauses, pursing her lips as a muscle in her jaw tightens. She shakes her head at his retreating form but continues after him. Joke's on him. She already has a list in her head and is more than willing to put it on paper if it'll help him figure out where he went wrong and might be able to improve in time to be headmaster again for Lizzie and Josie's senior year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah. Even I feel like that was a lot to take in. How are we feeling about this chapter and what's happened? Upset? Happy? Like you want to kill me? You gotta give me some credit for that brief happy moment I threw in there! But please, tell me all of your thoughts! I would love to hear them! ❤


	27. I can't imagine spending eternity without you

"Do you want to do it?" Lizzie blurts out, turning her head to look at Josie as if it's as simple as that. As if they're not talking about a cure for vampirism, and whether or not they should take the risk of finding out what happens if Aunt Bonnie's spell was just a little off. 

Josie doesn't answer right away. She thinks about it, staring at their reflection in the lake. The water ripples slightly as Lizzie shifts her foot, disturbing it. Their reflection distorts for a few seconds. Josie just watches it move and twist, her eyes latching onto the glint reflected onto the water from her left hand. 

The ring shimmers underneath the sun, bright and blinding if she looks at it too long. Even so, she can still make out the blue gemstone, only darkened by the water. It feels strange and unfamiliar even though she sees the exact same stone on the hands of every vampire in the school every single day. Even on her mom. She just never expected to be wearing one herself.

"I don't think it's that simple," she says after a moment passes. 

The lake has smoothed back out already, their reflection only disturbed by the slightest wave here and there. She watches Lizzie's face twist, her eyebrows pulling together in confusion as she looks at her again.

"Why not?" she asks, shaking her head. "Why can't it just be that simple?"

"Because nothing in our lives ever is. We don't even know if it'll work. They said there's a possibility."

"That's why we're supposed to take it," Lizzie counters with emphasis. "It's an experiment, that's how it works. We take it and if it works, then we're no longer vampires. If it doesn't, then..."

"Then we're still vampires," Josie finishes for her. 

The words hang over them as Lizzie goes quiet. Josie sees her look down at the water as well, an unreadable look on her face. Saying it out loud should scare them. They're witches, they're not supposed to be vampires. She tries to gauge Lizzie's reflection for something, anything that will her what she's thinking. 

She gives another little kick at the water. It's colder than it should be as it sloshes up against Josie's ankles. The sun's been relentless for weeks to the point where barely any of them have actually wanted to go outside with the exception of the last two days, but Lizzie figured that a simple spell could make the lake at least a little more enjoyable. At least while they mull over their big decision.

"You don't sound too concerned about that," Lizzie notes at last, and Josie stops. "I didn't ask before with everything going on, but...Jo, how did Kai turn you?"

She lifts her head back up, looking at her, but Josie keeps intently studying the watery versions of them.

"I mean, I know that the only reason I'm alive right now is because of Kaleb's blood." Josie's eyebrows furrow, but whether Lizzie notices or not, she continues anyway. "There was no way I was going to trust Kai not to pull something on us. But...what about you?"

Josie doesn't answer right away. She has a feeling her mom and dad already know what happened from the lack of questions about how she's alive. Kai was probably gloating about how easy it was to get her to trust him and play right into his hands. She still can't figure out why he would even want her alive in any form, even undead. Surely it would have been simpler to just kill her and leave it at that. 

Lizzie's still staring at her, waiting for an answer, but Josie doesn't know how to give it to her. She promised that they were on the same page, that they were sticking to their plan. And after Triad, Lizzie also made her promise not to ever take another bullet for her in any sense. She can't imagine that this is much better than a Malivore bullet. 

But she also knows Lizzie, and not answering her will only make things worse. 

"I asked him to turn me," she tells her, not letting herself even look at Lizzie's reflection for fear of what she'll find. 

"I'm sorry, I must have misheard you," Lizzie says, bordering on incredulous with a touch of hysteria, "because it sounded to me like you just said you boarded the crazy train. Tell me you are kidding right now, Jo. You can't seriously have asked that lunatic to turn you into a freaking vampire! What the hell were you thinking?!"

Josie chews on the inside of her cheek, biting down hard. "I thought it would save you," she confesses quietly.

She chances a look at Lizzie's reflection now. She's gone completely still, sitting back in shock. Her words might have well been a slap in the face, making her recoil in confusion. Her mouth opens, a little crease appearing in between her eyebrows, but Josie decides not to let her get too far. 

"The merge," she explains, and she closes her eyes. "Ever since you said that I was going to win it, I haven't been able to get it out of my head. The thought of hurting you...of not having you here with me, and that it would be my fault...I couldn't take it. Even if you turned out to be wrong, I couldn't stand the thought of any of it."

"Josie, I never—" Lizzie starts, but Josie quickly stops her, shaking her head. 

"I know. You were just as scared as I was about the whole thing, I know. But..." she breathes out, slowly opening her eyes back up only to stare into the version of them reflected back at her, dulled in colour compared to their real-life selves, "...I had to do something. If you turned out to be right, I was ready to throw the entire thing when we turned twenty-two. But then we found out about Kai, and I thought that the fact that he was a vampire had something to do with why he never merged with Jo, so I asked him and..."

The realization of how stupid she was finally hits. How naive she was to think that any of this could have actually worked. Kai even told her himself that he didn't know if it would work. He didn't even need to lie to her to play her. She had already latched onto this delusion and he just fed it and encouraged her for his own sake. It was perfect and so easy.

Her shoulders drop as she huffs out a sigh, shaking her head at herself in disbelief. 

"He said it was possible," she finishes, lifting her head and looking across at the trees surrounding the lake. "When you and Kaleb left the room, I saw an opportunity to do it without you knowing. I knew you would never let me do it—"

Lizzie scoffs her agreement, proving her right.

"—so, he fed me his blood, and he agreed to wait to actually turn me until I told him I was ready. I thought that he wanted to help us because he actually cared." Even to her own ears, her voice is bitter from how wrong she was. "I should have realized. You were right the entire time; we should never have gone."

Lizzie is quiet for a moment. Everything Josie said hangs in the air between them, slowly sinking in. Josie just waits for it. The anger at her for probably being the one to give him the idea in the first place, or for being so stupid. Or for being herself yet again and actually letting Kai have even an ounce of her trust when he's the last person to ever deserve it. She's certainly blaming herself, so it's not like she's going to disagree. 

A beat passes as they just sit there in silence. Not quite silence; Josie can't help but notice every little sound surrounding them. No matter how hard she tries to block them out, they just continue to bombard her, overlapping and sending her head in a spin. She can hear every little movement beneath the surface of the lake from the things living down there, the bend of a branch as a bird lands on it with its delicate little feet that scrape against the bark. Even voices all the way back at the school.

She can even hear Lizzie's heartbeat. It's steady, not a tell-tale blip of anger to be heard. It actually sounds surprisingly calm, beating away as if in protest to the fact that she's supposed to be dead. 

Her eyes find Lizzie's in her reflection, even if she's not actually looking back at her. Her lips are pressed together, and that unreadable expression is back on her face. Josie blames the lake. It makes it harder to read people. She's shaking her head slowly a moment before she straightens a little and lifts her head, her eyes on Josie. 

"It wasn't a bad idea," she says at last, catching Josie off-guard. She quickly presses on with a roll of her eyes. "I mean, of course it was a terrible, horrible idea that was doomed from the start, and had I known I would have locked you up with the chains used for the wolves to stop you."

Josie can't help but smile, a quiet excuse for a laugh slipping past her lips. She doesn't doubt Lizzie's sincerity for a second.

"But...your logic wasn't the worst. I mean," she shrugs, "until Mom and Dad told us about the spell to undo the curse, I was assuming that we were in the clear for the merge now that we're technically dead. You'd think a curse wouldn't be able to kill people who aren't really alive."

"You'd think," Josie agrees.

"It doesn't mean that I'm happy you lied to me and formed a secret plan to turn yourself into a vampire without at least consulting me on it," Lizzie says, then falters, giving another half-roll of her eyes, "but if you hadn't, you wouldn't be alive right now, so I suppose I can't entirely fault you for doing it. For letting Kai be the one to do it, though, I absolutely can. At least I got Kaleb to do it."

Josie stares down at her reflection, her teeth biting back into the inside of her cheek and ignoring the slight sting of it. 

"I should never have trusted him," she says.

"Not that I don't agree with you..." Lizzie touches her arm gently, comforting, "...but you couldn't have known what he had done or what he was planning. There was no reason for you not to trust him, not really."

"You didn't," Josie points out. "You kept trying to tell me, but I wouldn't listen to you because I was so desperate for more family." Lizzie's eyebrows furrow slightly in her reflection and Josie's voice quiets to barely above a whisper. "He was the last real connection we had to Jo. I know that she wasn't really our mom, but after seeing and talking to her like that, I just..."

She trails off, her insides twisting. It still feels like a betrayal to her mom to want to know more about Jo and her family, and to be connected to some piece of her, somehow. She knows that her mom wouldn't see it like that, but she can't help but feel it anyway.

"Oh, Jo," Lizzie sighs, but it's not annoyed. It's sad and sympathizing and completely understanding in a way that Josie wasn't expecting after her initial refusal to even consider Jo family. What came after, having to say goodbye. It must have had more of an effect on her than she had thought.

She watches Lizzie move her hand and shift closer on the edge of the dock until she's wrapping her arms around her. Josie presses into her side, her hand curling around Lizzie's arm. She leans her head on her shoulder and Lizzie gently tilts her own, resting on top of hers as she hugs her. 

They both stare into the reflection of the lake, the sun bouncing off of its surface. It's glimmering and shining as if the water itself is infused with magic, sparkling like diamonds have been spread over it. Or as if it has simply had a fair amount of glitter poured into it. Knowing Pedro, Josie wouldn't be all that surprised if that were true. Or maybe it's just the blur in her vision that's pricking at the backs of her eyes. 

"Forget all of it, okay?" Lizzie says softly, her cheek pressed to the top of her head. "Let's just leave Kai in the past, where he should have stayed. None of this was your fault. We need to move forward with our new lives as vampires."

It's said in a light tone, partially joking on the last part. Josie huffs out a quiet laugh before she can stop herself, sniffling slightly as she blinks back the tears that have built like little shields in her eyes. 

Swallowing, she asks, "does that mean you don't plan on taking the cure?"

Lizzie falters, her arm tensing beneath Josie's hand. She frowns in confusion. She was joking. There's no way that Lizzie actually wants to be a vampire, even if she has no real grudge against them. But Lizzie's staring into the lake with a hesitant look on her face and her lips parting nervously.

"I don't know if I want to," she admits, pushing the words out into the air surrounding them, carrying across the lake.

Josie pulls back to finally look at her, meeting Lizzie's worried gaze. "You don't?"

She shakes her head slowly, widening her eyes almost fearfully. "No. I mean, obviously when I woke up I would probably have jumped at the chance to be human again because I didn't really expect to die after just turning sixteen and it's not exactly the best age to be stuck at forever, you know?"

Josie can only nod in response — being stuck at sixteen wasn't exactly her life plan either — before Lizzie's pressing on, her words rushed as if she needs to get it all out in order to be able to understand it herself. She's getting the feeling that maybe this isn't just a spur of the moment decision. 

"But this isn't really as bad as I thought it would be. It's actually pretty easy to adjust, and it feels...I don't know how it feels," she says as she shakes her head. "I just know that maybe I don't hate being a vampire. And — there are so many risks involved with taking that cure, just like you said. We don't even know what it'll do. Why risk it when I actually don't really care if I'm human again or not, right?"

She's a little breathless when she stops, having barely stopped for air once. Her eyes are still wide and she's looking at Josie as if she's expecting her to turn around and disagree, argue with her on why they can't stay vampires. If Josie didn't know better, she would say that she's hoping that she will so that the decision isn't on her. 

"I don't think I want to take it either," Josie says instead.

Lizzie goes still in shock. Then, her face crumbles in relief and it's like all of the tension finally leaves her body in one fell swoop. Her arms wrap back around Josie as she exhales in a long sigh.

"I'm so glad," she says, and it rings true in her voice. "I can't imagine spending eternity without you. I would, of course, have a better shot at the spotlight, but it's not as much fun without the competition. I'd miss you too much."

Josie rolls her eyes but chuckles as Lizzie gives a broken sort of laugh along with her. She hugs her back properly this time though, because she knows Lizzie. Humour is her go-to defence right next to anger, and her joking only proves she's as afraid as Josie feels right now.

Their laughter fades until they're sitting in shared silence. It's not uncomfortable, just a little tense. Josie is sure Lizzie is thinking the same thing, the reality of it all weighing heavily above their heads, just waiting to drop down and crush them.

"So, that's it? We've made our decision?" Josie asks carefully, neither of them moving. "We aren't going to take the cure?"

Lizzie nods slowly, and Josie watches the ripple in her reflection from the accidental movement of her own foot through the water. She draws in a breath, inhaling deeply, nervous and shaking slightly.

"Yeah," she breathes out again. "We aren't going to take it."

Josie doesn't know why she smiles, even as small as it is, but she does, and says, "I guess it can be that simple after all, huh?"

Lizzie smiles right back at the lake, the amusement and relief at Josie being able to make light of it along with her shining in her eyes even through the water, like two extra diamonds sparkling under the rays of the sun. 

"See, Jo," Lizzie squeezes her a little tighter, arms still wound around her, "I'm always right."

Josie just gives another roll of her eyes. If Lizzie notices, she doesn't comment on it. Admittedly, when their parents told them about the possibility of a cure, Josie was considering taking it. She thought that Lizzie wouldn't even hesitate and, even though it had been her original plan, she wasn't sure she could handle outliving her. Even if she didn't really care about being human again.

But now, Lizzie doesn't want to take the cure either. An eternity definitely sounds like a long time, and maybe further down the line, they'll start to regret their decision. But right now, Josie can't help but think she feels better as a vampire. Or a heretic.

It's nothing to do with the constant source of magic now flowing through her, though that's certainly one part of it. There's just something about the feeling of it. It's no wonder MG could never really find a right way to explain it to her without rambling on until neither of them really understood anymore.

She can't help but imagine how differently everything with the prison world would have gone down had they been vampires already. Maybe not much, but she's at least sure Kai wouldn't have been able to get the upper hand on them.

Maybe she would have been less trusting of him, though she can't be sure of that. She made it so easy for him to get inside her head, especially when she and Lizzie were on different sides. Every little thing she told him, thinking that she was bonding with her uncle, replays in her head on a loop, only broken up by the gentle splash of Lizzie kicking a foot through the water.

Josie frowns, but the corners of her mouth twitch up. That must have been why Lizzie left the room and made Kaleb go with her. That was when she got him to feed her his blood as a precaution against anything Kai might do. It makes sense, but she knows Kaleb at least enough to be confused.

"Are you and Kaleb dating?" she asks bluntly, finally looking at her.

Lizzie immediately pulls back, making a face as she stares at her with wide, startled eyes.

"_What_?" she practically screeches. "Did you lose every brain cell in your head when Kai snapped your neck? Of course I'm not dating Kaleb. I have taste, thank you, and a very particular type as you saw with Rafael, whom I am still getting over the loss of, by the way. I'm afraid that _Kaleb_ doesn't even come close, so, no. Absolutely not, not a chance in hell, and I've been there already."

Josie's eyebrows raise as Lizzie looks out across the lake, tilting her chin as if she's somehow emphasizing her point. It might have, had her voice not grown increasingly more defensive with each word, making it out like the possibility is just a little too insane. But her cheeks have flushed, and Josie catches the movement in her throat as she swallows, pressing her lips together.

Not only does Josie know that Lizzie doesn't ever burn in the sun which leaves the sudden colour in her cheeks totally unexplainable, but in sixteen years, Lizzie has only ever avidly avoided looking at her when she's keeping something from her. Exactly like she's doing right now.

"Oh my god," Josie breathes out, her voice shaking slightly from her disbelief as Lizzie's eyes widen to the size of saucers, full of panic. "You like him, don't you?"

"No!" Lizzie quickly protests. "Didn't you hear a word I just said? What part of that translated to I have _feelings_ for _Kaleb_?"

"All of it," Josie says without missing a beat. She shifts herself around to properly face Lizzie, her own eyes sparkling with amusement and curiosity. "You have to tell me. You wouldn't stop going on about Rafael, and the second that Sebastian showed up you were all over him. Plus, I tell you every time I have a crush on someone."

Lizzie's expression quickly turns smug and she points a finger at her. "Ah, no you don't! Remember? You never told me that you had a crush on...on..."

The end of her sentence seems to get lost on its way out. She frowns, and Josie can't help but join her in her confusion. As soon as Lizzie started, she had a feeling she knew what she was going to say. Remind her of the time that she kept a crush a secret from her. Yet her mind is coming up blank on who it was that she had a crush on.

"Huh," Lizzie drops her hand, "guess I must have been thinking of Rafael. I was sure there was someone else."

"Yeah," Josie just says, her eyebrows furrowing. She would brush it off and agree that it must have been Rafael, but she can't help but feel that it's not the truth. There was someone else. A girl, she thinks, but not Penelope.

She wasn't shy about her feelings for her, though probably should have been considering Lizzie ended up trying to go after her for herself. A little bit of friendly competition between siblings when it comes to love never hurt anyone, she said.

Josie would have politely disagreed. Especially considering it ended with Lizzie despising Penelope after she rejected her and chose Josie without hesitation. It's like she'd never heard the story of the Salvatore brothers. Which she had, Josie knows, having listened to their uncle Damon tell them about Katherine Pierce on more than one occasion.

"My point still stands," Lizzie says, shrugging it off, returning to her calm and collected self. "You don't always tell me when you like people, therefore, I should not have to do the same every time I develop feelings for someone."

Josie raises her eyebrows in surprise and her smile grows. "So that means you do have feelings for Kaleb?"

The calm and collected slips away. Lizzie's eyes are widening again, whipping back around to stare at her. She's mid-protest, lips parting, when a sharp whistle cuts through from the direction of the school. It's followed by a familiar voice calling out to them. 

"Wonder twins!" Uncle Damon yells, his voice drifting loud and clear through the woods. "Your favourite aunt and uncles are here. We have things to do, cures to be taken, and vampire powers to learn to control. So get over here before your mom makes me come looking for you with my poor human legs."

Lizzie rolls her eyes, but when she looks at Josie and her bright grin, she glares. 

"Not a word," she tells her, then pulls her legs back up from the dock, pushing herself upright.

"I thought there was nothing to say a word about?" Josie says, sarcastically innocent and earning her another, harder glare as she follows Lizzie and stands.

Lizzie just lets it drop, clearly not wanting to have the subject pressed any more. Josie can't wipe the grin from her face, her curiosity only growing, but she doesn't say another word about it as they walk up the dock and back toward the school.

Something's up with Lizzie and she doesn't want to admit it. That's a first for her, but Josie won't question it. She's seen her when she has a crush, but this is something else. She isn't going to risk ruining that in any way. 

They follow the path back through the woods. Josie doesn't miss Lizzie jumping at every little noise, and she can't help but do the same. Every snap of a twig trodden on by little rabbit paws is like a gunshot bouncing off of every tree around them. The flap of a birds wings as it swoops above them is like standing right next to the jets of a plane as it takes off. It makes Josie's head spin and her heartbeat is all over the place.

They break through the woods, walking out onto campus, and the noises seem to increase. Josie's steps falter, glancing around. There are more people around than there had been when they left the school. There's a pulsing in her head, loud and insistent. Like a drum being hit, over and over again without pause.

Her eyes dart from one person to the next. At least thirteen people. Eleven working hearts, all beating away as if in a chorus. They all blend into one in her head, just one loud beat. One of them is close enough that she's sure she can see a vein in their neck pulsing along in the same rhythm. 

Her jaw and gums ache the longer she looks, unable to pull her eyes away from them. It's hypnotic. That thrum, knowing that there's blood flowing through their veins with each beat. How warm it must be, and she's aware of the hunger in the pit of her stomach. A hand on her shoulder pulls her back with a jolt.

"Jo?" Lizzie says to her, worried and only just bordering on alarmed.

She blinks, shaking the feeling away. It's as if she were detached from her own body for a moment, consumed with every thought that came into her head at once. By a hunger that she's never felt before, but was deep and demanding. It's still there, clawing at her from the inside like it's trying to escape.

"Yeah," she says faintly, her voice distant to her own ears. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Considering your eyes have turned red, I'd have to disagree," Lizzie practically hisses despite the fact that every single person around them is aware of vampires and, by now, probably knows that they're the newest members of the faction. 

Josie's eyes still widen in alarm all the same as it hits her. She quickly turns away from the other people — her classmates, her _friends_ — and faces Lizzie, closing her eyes. Control. That's all it's about, it can't be that hard, surely. Her mom's able to do it without a problem, and she's never once seen MG or Kaleb lose it. 

Just steady the heartbeat. Inhale, hold, exhale. The burning itch in the back of her throat sticks, refusing to budge no matter what she does, but she can hear her own heart and it's slowly steadying. Returning to normal. Controlling it. Easy. She swallows and breathes out once more. But when she opens her eyes, nothing feels different, and Lizzie's panicked expression only seems to deepen. 

"It didn't work!" she tells her. "Come on, we need to get inside, like, right now. Mom will be able to help."

She's already pulling her along, hurrying across the campus, and Josie just lets her, ducking her head. Two sharp points poke at her tongue and she tries to make them sink back into normal teeth. No matter what she does, though, it doesn't make a difference.

Her head is still filled with the sound of every heartbeat nearby. The need to taste even just a drop of blood from one of them tugging at her, pulling at every nerve in her body like it's trying to pull her back and force her to listen. 

They're just a few feet away from the doors when their mom steps out, looking ready to go out searching for them. Her eyes land on them and instantly widen, her face falling.

"I can't control it," Josie quickly explains to her. "I've tried, but nothing's working."

"It's okay," her mom assures her, looking between the two of them as she places a hand on Josie's shoulder. "You just need to feed, that's all. This is all new to you. Both of you. It'll be hard to get the hang of at first. Let's just get you something to eat, yeah?"

Josie nods and her mom ushers her into the school after Lizzie. Instead of walking straight into the common room, her mom continues in the direction of the kitchen. Lizzie falters for a moment before heading into the common room on her own, telling them she isn't that hungry.

Josie leans against the island in the middle of the room, still trying to keep her heartbeat steady. She expects her mom to go to the freezer to get one of the school's blood bags. She completely avoids the freezer altogether, to Josie's confusion. Instead, she moves over to the counter and pulls her bag toward her. 

She doesn't question her, just focusing on keeping herself together. A moment later, her mom produces a blood bag and turns back to her. She hands it to her with an encouraging nod as Josie eyes it uncertainly but accepts it.

"Now that I know the ones your dad has been storing here aren't human blood, I made another quick trip," she explains with a small smile. "Animal diet doesn't really work for me, and on a newly-turned vampire, it can be...not so great. It's a good thing your aunt Elena keeps a supply in her clinic. It's B positive. Give it a try."

Josie hesitates for a moment longer, looking between her and the bag. The hunger is still itching at the back of her throat, though, and she feels her face shift this time, feels the veins pressing up against her skin and sinking into her eyes. 

Giving in, she carefully twists the clamp at the end of the tube. It tears off in her hand with ease. She brushes it off and brings the tube to her lips, already anticipating the taste and starting to grimace as she closes her eyes. But as soon as she starts to drink, the blood hitting her tongue, she relaxes. 

It's an instant relief. She draws more up and relishes in it as it warms her throat, the taste clinging to her tongue even after she's swallowed it. The pit in her stomach eases by a fraction, and she takes another long drink to try and fill it completely. 

"See?" her mom says as she squeezes the bag, draining it of its last few drops within seconds. "All you needed was something to eat. We can work on the control part with your eyes and fangs later. But for now, do you feel better?"

Josie takes a moment to respond, breathing out slowly. Better isn't exactly the word she'd use. It's as if feeding only made it worse. The pit hasn't disappeared but grown, like a black hole trying to swallow up everything around it, except it has nothing left. It wants more. The want — the _need_ for blood is even stronger, begging her to satiate it. 

She swallows, tasting the last remnants of the blood bag. Her gums are still aching and her mouth somehow feels dry. She nods slowly and lifts her eyes to look at her mom.

"Yeah," she lies, "I do. I think it helped."

Her mom smiles and takes the empty bag from her, turning her back on her briefly to put it in the disposal bin. Josie closes her eyes and hopes that the veins are staying hidden beneath her eyes. She's got a feeling that the blood bag was supposed to work and get rid of the hunger. 

When her mom turns back around, she quickly composes herself, pushing the feeling down as best she can. Her mom gestures for them to leave and they walk out into the common room, Josie managing to calm herself. The hunger is just something she'll have to adjust to, that's all. 

Her eyes dart to Lizzie, positioned near the centre of the room where everyone seems to be hovering. Josie can't help but be confused. While she was thinking about ripping their classmates' veins open because of how many heartbeats there were, it barely seemed to faze Lizzie. She seemed a little distressed, but there were no veins and no fangs. Either she already has a really good handle on herself or there's something wrong with Josie.

She brushes it off as they join them. As she goes to stand by Lizzie, she looks around them and notices that three now familiar faces are missing again. 

"Everything okay?" her aunt Elena asks, looking at her mom with concern. 

Her mom just smiles again and nods, glancing back at Josie. "Yeah, everything's fine." She then turns back, raising her eyebrows at them all, her face brightening a little with a flutter of eagerness to get this done. "Are we ready?"

"Wait, where's dad?" Lizzie asks, her eyebrows furrowing as she looks around as well now. 

"He's already out at the Old Mill," her mom answers. "He's with your aunt Bonnie getting everything set up for the spell, and I told them we'd meet them out there, so."

Josie realizes that must be where the three missing Mikaelsons have disappeared to as well. 

"Okay, you guys go," Aunt Elena says and gives a wave of her hands. "I've got the school, and I'll be right here with Tyler and Dorian when Professor Vardemus gets here. If he even shows up."

"Are you sure?" her mom asks, the doubt in her voice. "We don't even know what this guy's like."

Uncle Damon rolls his eyes and says, "he's a British sorcerer. He's practically Merlin! I'm telling you, Care-bear, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. The most danger they'll be in is the possibility of him trying to recruit them as knights of the round table, and honestly, considering I heard there was a dragon roaming about a few months back, that may not be such a bad idea."

Her mom's the one rolling her eyes now, but she gives in. Josie shares a confused look with Lizzie.

"British sorcerer?" Lizzie mouths at her, but Josie just shrugs, shaking her head.

Professor Vardemus is definitely a new name to both of them. Maybe now that their mom is coming back as headmaster she's adding a new class, which would require a new professor. She can't come up with another reason for why they would be bringing a sorcerer all the way from Britain. She can't even really say she's ever actually met a sorcerer for that matter.

"Okay, okay," her mom says, holding her hands up. She looks at Aunt Elena, adding, "but remember, we're just down at the Mill if you need us for anything. Just...give us at least thirty minutes. I don't know what would happen if we interrupted the spell but we can't afford for anything to go wrong, and—"

"I got it, Care," Aunt Elena cuts her off with a gentle smile. She gives another wave of her hands, directed at all of them. "Now go. The sooner you do this, the better."

Her mom nods and looks at Lizzie and Josie. They get the message and follow her lead, Uncle Damon and Uncle Enzo just ahead of her as they leave the school and head across the grounds, and around the back in the direction of the Old Mill. Josie presses her lips tightly together and tries to avoid looking at anyone. It's a little easier, though she can't deny that the desire to feed is still there with each beat of a heart that her ears pick up.

* * *

Lizzie can't help but be anxious, especially once the Old Mill is in sight. The spell could go completely wrong, and the closer she looks as they approach, the surer she is that it's so much more complicated than she had thought. It wouldn't require so many candles or people otherwise, and right now, she's seeing a whole lot of both.

There's also the conversation she and Josie need to have with their parents to tell them they don't want to take the magical cure that their aunt Bonnie probably spent all night finishing just to free them from being vampires.

Not to mention that she's still jumpy now that her senses have been turned up to a hundred, and she's pretty sure that means that her entire personality is as well, and she's still worrying about Josie and her momentary loss of control. She's got this weird little itch of hunger at the back of her throat, but it's barely worse than the usual level she used to get, not to the same extent as Josie.

She tries to tell herself to relax but considering that's never worked so well for her in the past when it was just her magic she was dealing with, she isn't so sure that it's going to be all that much help. Her stomach tying itself into a knot. That doesn't help in the slightest.

The reality of it all comes crashing down on her when they're just a few feet away. There are so many risks and so many ways for things to go wrong. But she supposes that that's no different to anything else that's been happening lately.

And this is exactly what her mom was searching for for the last few years. This is the pair of scissors that are going to cut the last, fraying string keeping them tied to the Gemini Coven. It's a little easier to breathe now, though her heart seems to be making up for it by throwing itself for a loop, keeping her just jittery enough. 

"How's everything going?" Uncle Damon asks as they finally reach them. He and Uncle Enzo both walk over to her aunt Bonnie, Uncle Damon pressing up at her side to look down at what she's doing with the little makeshift table set up in the middle of the grass. "Your witchy juju all good to go?"

Aunt Bonnie sends him a halfhearted glare, the corners of her lips twitching as she gently pushes him away before continuing with what she was doing. "Just about," she answers anyway, her hands moving, plucking off a piece of a herb and placing it in the bigger bowl in the middle of the table. "Just another minute or two and we'll be ready."

Despite her tangle of nerves, Lizzie can't help but take a step closer to get a better look as well. There are various herbs scattered on the table and she recognizes most of them. One or two stand out as unfamiliar and she eyes them with curiosity. A knotted rope sits to the side.

"Unbinding spell?" she guesses, looking from at the bowl Aunt Bonnie's working with. Everything she's mixing together are the exact ingredients needed for a basic unlinking spell, save for a few additional herbs here and there that she's guessing are unique to the specific spell. 

Aunt Bonnie smiles at her and nods. "Yeah. It's only one part of the spell, but it's the one that'll unlink the two of you from the Gemini Coven once and for all. And then..."

She pauses, checking the Grimoire laid out for her, Freya, and Davina. Her eyes narrow, her finger moving along the page. Even upside down Lizzie can tell that it's not in English, or any easily decipherable language. If anything, it looks more like ruins. 

Freya glances over her shoulder at it, her head tilting to get a better look while she casually pulls the stems from a small group of something similar in appearance to dried nettles. 

"The Kandahār root," she tells her with ease, already shifting her focus back to the plant in her hand. "Break a piece off. It's the last ingredient in Dahlia's reversal spell."

Aunt Bonnie moves back around the table and picks up the root, breaking a piece off as advised and placing it in the bowl. Freya sprinkles the torn stems into the other bowl before grabbing the single, bushy and blooming in a dark shade of red flower from the table.

She breaks the head off without so much as blinking and crushes it in her hand. The petals fall down into the bowl like colourful rainfall as she turns her hand above it, spreading her fingers. 

"Dahlias," she explains with a thin smile as she carefully shakes the last few stubborn petals off. "A key ingredient in almost any spell created by my aunt. She had a real knack for leaving her mark on everything she did."

She then wipes her hands together and does a sweep of the table and the bowls. 

"Okay, we're ready," she says, looking up at them. "We can start the spell."

"Just — one thing first," Lizzie's mom quickly says, and her eyes dart to Aunt Bonnie.

Aunt Bonnie reaches a hand into the pocket of her jacket and pulls out a thin vial. It's filled almost to the top with a pale red liquid, the contents almost pink and contained by a little wax stopper. Lizzie almost thinks it shimmers and moves, but it's probably just the sunlight.

Her mom smiles and turns to look at Lizzie and Josie as their dad approaches. "Have you both made up your minds about the cure?" she asks.

The nerves return full force, and Lizzie's remembering why she was so on edge the entire walk up. She draws in a deep breath and shares a look with Josie, receiving a nod from her. They can do this. Easy. 

"Yes," Josie starts, still nodding as she looks between them. "We have. And we—"

"We don't want to take it," Lizzie blurts out, the words slipping before she can register them. 

Her eyes widen and she knows Josie's sending her that familiar, exasperated look from the corner of her eye. It was building inside of her and she just had to get it out before it burst. 

Her mom's own eyes have grown as well, the shock flickering in them and across her face. It's her dad that Lizzie's trying to gauge a reaction from. He's completely still next to her mom, his expression unreadable. All she knows is that he looks as if she just ripped his heart out but he's trying not to let it show.

"Oh..." her mom says, her eyes shifting between them as she blinks, trying to digest that. 

"It's not that we don't want to be human again," Josie is quick to try and explain further, shaking her head as her face scrunches. "I mean, it is, in a way. But we..." Her shoulders drop and she looks them both in the eyes, worry spreading across her face and into her voice. "We just don't want to take it." 

Her dad starts to shake his head and Lizzie's heart leaps into her throat. Her cold, undead heart that somehow still has the capability to jump and stutter in fear of hurting the people she loves the most.

"No, that's — that's not an option," he says.

Lizzie blinks. Even her mom turns to stare at him along with her and Josie in disbelief. 

"_Yes_," her mom says firmly, "it is." She turns back to them, shaking her head. "Neither of you have to take it if you don't want to. That's why we said that you had a choice."

The last part is emphasized as she shoots their dad another look, raising her eyebrows the slightest bit, silently pleading with him to agree. He scoffs, looking away from her, but when his eyes slide over to them, he hesitates again.

"It's not just about us not wanting to take it," Lizzie quickly cuts in, eyeing her dad pointedly, knowing she can get through to him. "We don't even know if it'll work. You used the word _possible_ at least three times while telling us about it, not to mention the fact that we have no idea if that one vial will be enough to work on the both of us."

"I worked almost the entire night, and it would still take me at least another few months to try and double the dosage," Aunt Bonnie agrees with her. "And that's assuming I would even be able to. I mean, I'm sure that I have the spell right, but it's the preparation that would take time."

Lizzie waves her hands at her, her point made. Her dad still doesn't look entirely convinced but he's swaying, and her mom was already on-board in the first place. Aunt Bonnie's agreement only solidifies it.

"I don't want to be cured if Jo can't be as well," Lizzie says firmly, "and if we both take that vial, and it doesn't work, then we have nothing."

"Then one of you can take it now, Bonnie can work on making more, and the other will take it in a few months when it's done," her dad tries, softening his voice with a desperate note sticking through.

Guilt twists at Lizzie. He just wants to protect them, she knows that, and he can't enjoy the thought of having vampires for daughters. Doubt flashes in his eyes when she doesn't back down. She has to do this. It's what she wants.

"No," Josie says, shaking her head. "Either we both take it, or neither of us does. That's what we've agreed."

"What if you change your minds?" her mom asks gently. It's clear she's not trying to do that for them, but simply making sure that they've thought it through and are absolutely positive and clear about what they're about to do.

"Then I'm sure Aunt Bonnie will be able to make more if we do, and we'll be willing to wait for it then. But..." Josie glances over at Aunt Bonnie, the vial still in her hand. "Don't you think that she's been waiting long enough for this?"

That throws them, catching them by surprise. Even their aunt Bonnie's eyes have widened a little, looking over at them while Uncle Damon and Uncle Enzo glance at her in confusion. 

"We're not just doing this for us," Lizzie chimes in in agreement. "You told us yourself that Aunt Bonnie has been working on this cure for at least _ten years_. She wasn't doing that doing for us."

She catches the realization dawning on her uncle Enzo when she glances over at them again. He looks down at her aunt Bonnie, his lips parting like he wants to speak but doesn't know where to even start. He presses them together, swallowing, and she swears his eyes are a little shinier, and it's not because of the sun still streaming down around them in the clearing. 

"Why should she have to sacrifice her happiness?" Josie asks softly, looking at their mom and dad. "We can handle being vampires for a little while longer. But they've been waiting for this for years. It's not fair for us to take that from them."

"But, Josie...Lizzie..." her dad tries but falters, the words not coming out. "Neither of you asked for this. You don't deserve any of this."

"And they don't deserve to have to give everything up for us," Lizzie counters, pleading for him to understand. "Uncle Enzo's been a vampire much longer than we have. And he has a family, dad. Why shouldn't they be allowed a happy, human life?"

He stares at her, but he doesn't try and argue. She can see it; she's gotten through to him. He knows they're right, and she understands why he was pressing so hard for this. He's human. And she can't imagine he likes knowing that they'll stop growing up. It's probably the one thing he dreaded and tried to prevent since the moment they were born. But this is the right decision.

"This is what you want?" he asks them. "Both of you?"

She and Josie look at each other, and they both nod without hesitation. 

"It is," Josie tells him. 

He processes that, letting it sink in for a moment. Then, he sighs.

"Okay then," he says, giving a halfhearted shrug. The corners of his mouth pull up a little even as he adds, "I can't say I'm thrilled, but...it's your decision. So, no cure."

Lizzie can't help but be surprised. She smiles, though, relief washing over her as she brightens. Her mom's own smile has grown, stretching as far as it can as she looks at them. Her eyes are shining and Lizzie can't tell now if it's from the reflection of the sun or if it's something else. 

"I am so proud of you two," she says to them. "You're making a good decision."

"It was the only one that felt right," Josie says, and that only seems to make her pride grow even more.

"Oh, too much of us really did rub off on you two," their dad says with a sigh that turns into a slight chuckle, and his own pride shines through in his words and his smile.

Her mom turns around, and all eyes fall on Aunt Bonnie. Her own eyes widen. She straightens up a little, then glances at the cure. There's a shift in her expression, a flicker of hope that's clearly been repressed and pushed down for so long. Hope breeds eternal misery, after all, and Lizzie can imagine that's been true for her aunt Bonnie for quite some time.

She glances over at them, and the doubt is painfully obvious. Lizzie and Josie both smile a silent go ahead and confirmation that they're positive. Her mom even sends her a little nod, chewing on her lower lip with her hands clasped together by her mouth.

Aunt Bonnie turns her head and looks up at Uncle Enzo. His eyes widen along with hers, his breath audibly catching to Lizzie's sensitive hearing, and the reality of it all seems to finally be hitting him. 

"You once said this is what you wanted," Aunt Bonnie says quietly. "To be human. To live a normal, human life."

She glances at Uncle Damon who's watching them with wide eyes of his own, the depths of them swimming with too many emotions to process at once, the main one being hope. She turns back. 

"To have a family," her aunt Bonnie says. "We already are one, but... s the rest of it still what you want?"

Uncle Enzo swallows, and Lizzie's sure his eyes are glistening and wet as he seems to try and refrain from blinking. Everything about him softens at once as his mouth curves up into a smile that reaches his eyes with ease. 

"Yes," he says, shaking his head. "Of course it's still what I want."

Aunt Bonnie's face splits into a smile as well, and she quickly bites her lip. Even Uncle Damon looks relieved, his eyes sparkling with something other than his typical mischief that Lizzie's often seen mirrored in Stefanie's. It's a love so intense, and she remembers the few things he's told her over the years about his past with the two of them.

"I feel like I'm watching a bloody marriage proposal," she hears Kol say quietly, though maybe not quiet enough. It's not a complaint, though, and if anything, he looks just about as happy as the rest of them. A little wistful, even.

Still, Davina nudges him with a warning look even if she's smiling. Lizzie silently agrees with him all the same as Uncle Enzo rolls his eyes and Aunt Bonnie chuckles, ducking her head. 

"Don't worry, that'll come next," Uncle Damon tells him with a smirk that's far too happy to work properly and a wink. "I'll even invite you to the wedding if you're nice and promise not to eat any of the guests."

Lizzie honestly can't tell if he's joking, about any part of it, and she's got a feeling that no one else can either. Even her mom seems caught off guard, sharing a look with her dad, amusement passing between them. 

Her aunt Bonnie's smile doesn't waver for even a second as she offers the vial to Uncle Enzo. He glances at it, drawing in a breath of air. Then, carefully, he takes it from her fingers with slightly shaking hands. He pulls the wax stopper out and lifts the vial to his lips, then hesitates. 

"Not that I don't have complete confidence in you, but this isn't going to kill me, right?" he asks her.

She just stares at him, raising her eyebrows. He nods back, inhales, then tips the cure into his mouth. Lizzie definitely would have pressed her for a more assuring answer than that before taking it. He doesn't seem to doubt her for a second.

Everyone waits, watching them. The main event of the day was supposed to be the undoing of the centuries-old curse on the Gemini Coven, but Lizzie thinks everyone's a little curious. They all want to know if it works. If her aunt Bonnie really has just gone and created a brand new cure for vampirism. Even Kol is watching with rapt intent, hopeful, that makes her think he might have his own reasoning for wanting to see if it works. 

Uncle Enzo's eyes close briefly, breathing slowly. For a moment, she worries he's about to collapse. He seems to sway a little, losing his balance for a second. Aunt Bonnie takes a hold of his arm and Uncle Damon's behind him in a second. 

"Enzo?" Aunt Bonnie asks gently, the worry in her voice.

He nods, though, signalling that he's alright. "Just...light-headed."

"How will we know if it worked?" Davina asks curiously, her eyebrows furrowing. 

"It's simple," Lizzie's dad says. "If he bleeds and doesn't heal, it worked. Here—"

He pulls a pocket knife out from somewhere in his jacket and tosses it over for them to use. Uncle Enzo moves to grab it mid-air but he's a second too slow. It flies past his hand and lands just behind them on the ground with a soft thud. 

No one speaks. The realization sinks in as Uncle Enzo looks from the knife to his hand then back down to the vial with wide eyes. He breathes out, the noise disbelieving as a slow smile forms across his lips.

"It worked," he says, his face twisting in confusion as he blinks down at his hand as if it's some sort of trick. Then he breathes out and lifts his gaze to Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Damon. "I'm...human."

"Are you sure?" Aunt Bonnie asks, eyes just as wide as his, so ready to believe it but not wanting to let herself be crushed if they're wrong. Even Lizzie's heart is racing with hope for this to be real. 

Uncle Damon moves away, bending to pick up the pocket knife and brings it back over to them

"One last test," he says. 

He catches Uncle Enzo's eyes in question, and he nods for him to go ahead. Flicking the knife open, Uncle Damon takes the hand Uncle Enzo offers to him, and Lizzie can't help but notice how gentle he is about it. She's heard about Damon Salvatore's reputation and bits and pieces of his gruesome past, mainly from him. It was still never enough to actually fear him though when he's been calling her and Josie the wonder twins and munchkins for as long as she can remember. 

Her eyes — and she's sure everyone else's — are glued to the knife as he lowers it to Uncle Enzo's palm, the tip of the blade pressed into his skin. He then carefully drags it along, all the way across as Uncle Enzo hisses quietly through his teeth. Beads of blood are already rising to the surface, making a neat little line trailing after the blade like flames. 

A beat passes, everyone waiting, but it continues to bleed. Lizzie's jaw aches slightly, and she can feel her veins moving along her face at the sight of the blood. She bites it back, now the one breathing slowly, and within a moment, it passes. There's still no sign of the cut healing even a little. 

"It's not healing," her mom whispers, the real meaning clear in her voice for them all to hear.

"It worked," her aunt Bonnie says softly. She inhales a shaky breath, looking up from his hand to meet Uncle Enzo's eyes, her expression a collision of emotions all at once. "You're human."

Uncle Enzo smiles at her in response but winces before he can speak. He eyes his hand, the blood now threatening to drip onto the ground with no sign of stopping.

"And capable of experiencing actual pain again, it seems," he notes with a wry note, but the amazement and relief greatly overpower it as he stares down at it. 

"Elena's still inside," her mom quickly reminds him, pointing over her shoulder. "She can bandage it up for you?"

He starts to shake his head, and even Uncle Damon's agreeing with him despite the concerned glance he shoots Uncle Enzo's hand. It's not that bad since he was careful with the blade, but with a newly turned human bleeding and two newly turned vampires within a few feet of him, it's enough to become a problem. 

"No, I'm not leaving until the spell is done," Uncle Enzo says, the unspoken addition of Aunt Bonnie's name in the middle as his eyes discreetly dart to his left at the three Mikaelsons that Lizzie is thinking he isn't too familiar with either.

Aunt Bonnie gently takes his hand, careful to avoid the cut, and looks up at him. "I'll be fine. It won't take that long, and nothing is going to go wrong, I promise. It's better if you let Elena see to that. Go, seriously." She shifts her gaze to Uncle Damon. "You too."

Uncle Damon starts to protest again, but she doesn't waver, simply continuing to stare at the two of them. His eyes dart over in their direction, and Lizzie sees her mom sending them an almost identical, stern look.

It's the same one she used to use when she and Josie fought and would try to blame each other for starting it. And when they would attempt to argue on how outrageous some of the school rules could be, such as the no magic outside of class rule, and the dress code, which they eventually persuaded her to adjust to meet all of their standards. It seems to have the same effect on Uncle Damon and Uncle Enzo as it had — and, on occasion, still does — on them.

"Fine, we'll go in," Uncle Damon concedes, Uncle Enzo doing the same. He's quick to continue, widening his eyes a little to emphasize his words as he looks at Aunt Bonnie. "But if anything starts to go wrong, we're coming back out."

"Of course," she agrees with a fond smile. "Now go."

With one more huff of reluctance, they listen and leave, heading back toward the school. Lizzie happens to glance at Josie while watching their departing backs. She frowns, catching sight of the fangs poking through between her parted lips. She's sure there's a flicker in her eyes, a brief moment where they turn as red as the blood on their uncle Enzo's hand. She looks like a ravenous animal ready to chase after them and pounce.

But then Josie ducks her head, and it's gone. At least, her eyes are back to their normal colour. She presses her lips firmly together, hiding the fangs from sight. The animalistic flicker in her eyes is still there. Lizzie decides to drop it; she just hasn't gotten a grip on her control yet, that's all. It'll take time for either of them to get to their mom's level of control. 

It takes a moment before anyone moves or speaks, all of them processing what just happened. Aunt Bonnie really made a cure for vampirism. And it worked.

If she could replicate it again, which she's already said would be possible, even if it takes some time, so many vampires would jump at the chance. She can't help but think that Kol seems like he might be one of those vampires from the look on his face.

"Should we start?" Freya asks carefully, snapping them back to reality.

Everyone breaks away from their own bubble of thought, a murmur of agreement chorusing around them. Lizzie draws in a deep breath, her chest strangely tight. She glances at Josie again and catches her eyes this time. It's not hard for her to tell that she's just as worried and nervous about this. 

They've already taken care of one thing, and the cure actually worked. Maybe that means that this will as well. They can get lucky twice in one day. She hopes.

Before anyone can make a move, there's a noise from behind them. The snap of a twig as it's stepped on and crunching as it's pressed into the dirt. They all spin around, alert.

Lizzie falters as she takes in the woman who her mom referred to as Valerie. She seems to have changed clothing at some point, though her leather jacket still hangs on her. Lizzie only notices because she remembered thinking it was something she would like and made a mental note to try and figure out the spell to change one of the jackets she already owns into a similar copy. 

Valerie stops under everyone's stares, looking like a deer caught in headlines. Even so, something about her expression remains closed-off and almost resentful for a reason that Lizzie can't fathom.

She tries to recall anything that she can about anything her mom or dad might have said about the past involving her. Something pokes at the back of her mind, and she's sure that her mom told her and Josie that it was a person named Valerie that helped deliver them, along with Aunt Bonnie. Surely it's a coincidence.

"Valerie," her mom says, her eyes growing. "You didn't leave?" It comes out as a half-question more than a statement, the surprise barely concealed in her voice.

"I certainly thought about it," Valerie says bluntly, eyeing them all carefully. "But after spending a night talking to Matt and Tyler, who," her noses wrinkles slightly, "are both surprisingly more talkative and hospitable than I remember... I realized I couldn't just leave. I promised you my help. It's only right that I keep that promise. I would hate myself much more if I didn't, and I don't have the mental or emotional capacity to deal with that for the rest of eternity, so." 

She spreads her hands, heaving a sigh. Lizzie can't help but already like her.

"I passed Damon and Enzo on the way, and they told me where to find you. Am I too late?"

Lizzie sees her mom smile, a strange look in her eyes. It's something that she's never seen on her before, but it's interesting. She shakes her head and glances back at the rest of them over her shoulder.

"You're actually perfectly on time," she tells her, the relief at that shining through in her voice.

"You're a siphoner, right?" Freya calls over to her, and Valerie nods. "Okay, good. We need you over here."

She moves to the spot Freya points to on her left as she shifts herself over to the right, positioned in front of the Grimoire. Aunt Bonnie collects herself and joins them in stepping back to the table, Davina walking up on her left.

Lizzie's eyes dart over the table as it all finally hits again. It's actually real. They're doing this. 

"To undo it, we have to do it in reverse from how Dahlia performed the original curse," Freya explains to them as the only one who can translate the Grimoire. "So, we start with the unbinding spell, then the curse itself before it's done. With all of our power combined, it shouldn't be as complicated."

"I hope you're right," Davina mutters, the worry flickering across her face as she eyes the table.

Aunt Bonnie moves first. She picks up the knot that Lizzie recognizes as a Sanguinum knot, careful and delicate despite it being the simplest part of the spell and the hardest to mess up. At least, as far as Lizzie's heard. She's never actually been allowed to try and perform it considering no one actually knows the incantation.

While her aunt Bonnie takes either end of the rope, holding it close to the knot, Davina does the same, placing her hands just a few inches closer to the frayed ends. She seems more sure of herself, Lizzie notices, as if she's done it before. It wouldn't surprise her and, in fact, brings her a little bit of comfort. 

"_Phasmatos omnio ligor coldate sangorium..." _Davina starts to chant, nodding slowly as Aunt Bonnie mouths the words, letting herself get used to the feel of them as she continues. "_Phasmatos omnio ligata soluto...Phasmatos omnio ligata soluto vingulia cordit."_

Aunt Bonnie nods back, ready. She joins in on the chant this time, her and Davina sounding perfectly in sync. Lizzie chews at her nail as she watches them, and catches Josie anxiously chewing on her lip as well. For a brief second, she can't refrain from checking for any sight of a fang slipping through. By the looks of it, though, she's got a handle on it now.

She turns her attention back to her aunt Bonnie and Davina. To her surprise — and great relief — the knot has already started to unfurl in their hands. They're still uttering the incantation, their voices stronger than before. Their magic practically radiates off of them, and Lizzie is sure she can feel it in the air around them, swirling like a light gust of wind. Her skin tingles and prickles from the familiar feeling that's so much more exhilarating than she remembers it being. 

The knot is a few inches smaller now, more rope dangling at either side as it slowly yields under their magic. There's still a lot to go by the looks of it. Freya's eyes dart down to the Grimoire before she moves, slipping past Valerie and grabbing the bowl of herbs Aunt Bonnie had been working with. 

"Don't lose focus," she tells them softly, her voice smoothly blending in with theirs through the spell. "Keep going."

Lizzie's eyes widen a little when she slips the knife they had been using from the table. For a brief, terrifying moment, she has no idea where this is going and glances at her mom and dad in alarm. But then she understands when Freya carefully removes one of Aunt Bonnie's hands from the rope, the explanation Kol gave her and Josie earlier coming back to her.

Neither her nor Davina falter in the spell once, doing as Freya said and keeping their focus. Freya drags the knife along Aunt Bonnie's palm, slicing a thin cut along the length of it, just like Uncle Damon did with uncle Enzo. Beads of blood rise from it immediately and Freya is quick to direct it to the bowl as Aunt Bonnie squeezes her hand into a fist, making it drip faster. 

A moment passes, then Freya removes the bowl. Aunt Bonnie shifts her hand back to the rope, carefully retaking her hold on the other end, not even wincing as the broken skin comes in contact with the rough material of the rope. 

Freya closes her eyes briefly and mutters something under her breath. Even with newly heightened hearing, Lizzie can't make it out, the words too fast and her voice too low. Whatever it is seems to work; the magic in the air thickens, a small, electrical power surge that threatens to shock her like the warning signs of a lightning storm.

When Freya reaches into the bowl, pulling out a pinch of the mixture, it's more of a paste than a concoction of herbs and blood. Yet when she sprinkles it carefully across one end of the rope, avoiding Aunt Bonnie's and Davina's hands, it falls and settles like leaves from a tree.

"A literal magical binding agent for an unlinking spell," Lizzie mutters in awe, shaking her head. "It's perfect."

She watches as Freya continues until she's covered the entire length of the rope, which seems to be increasing with each second that ticks by, the spell working. Then she slips back around the table, setting the bowl down on the way as she rereads the page of the Grimoire. 

Freya catches Aunt Bonnie's eyes and nods, signalling that it's time. She looks over at Lizzie and Josie and gestures for them to join them now. Lizzie hesitates for just a second, her eyes growing and her heart leaping somewhere out of her body. But she forces herself to move, Josie right beside her. 

The last loop in the knot comes undone, the rope straightening out completely like a stick held in their hands. It could just be her imagination, but Lizzie's sure something shifts inside of her. Some energy, or magic, or just _something_. She can feel it, as if everything's suddenly lighter, a dead weight lifted off of her and leaving everything soft and a little fuzzy.

"The unlinking spell worked," Freya says, her words coming out fast. "You're no longer tied to the Gemini Coven. Now we just have to undo the rest of the curse. Valerie, I need you to hold onto Lizzie and Josie and repeat the incantation after me. Word for word. Got it?"

Valerie nods, signalling that she understands. They move to do as Freya instructs, facing each other as Valerie gently takes hold of one of their arms each. Lizzie looks Josie in the eyes, and she can see every little emotion that she's feeling in that moment mirrored right back at her. Oddly, it makes her a little less scared. They're in this together, just like they always are.

Aunt Bonnie and Davina set the unknotted rope on the edge of the table before moving to join Freya. With Aunt Bonnie on one side and Davina on the other, Freya focuses on the Grimoire, her eyes scanning over the nordic runes. That's what Lizzie is assuming they are considering everything she knows about the Mikaelsons.

"Here we go," Freya mutters, and for the first time, Lizzie catches the slip of worry. It has her heart beating a little bit faster and she quickly reminds herself to breathe, in and out, in and out. 

They begin the spell, Freya speaking the incantation, clear and sharp. Just as instructed, Valerie repeats it along with her, and Aunt Bonnie's and Davina's voices join in right away. It's a spell like no other that Lizzie's heard before. She can barely understand a word of it, all of it blending together in some ancient tongue. 

Her body starts to heat up, warmth spreading through her. It engulfs her slowly and she forces herself to stay perfectly still. Her eyes dart to her arm. Valerie's hand is surrounded by a bright red glow. She can feel it pulling at her from the inside like little hooks getting tangled and stuck into her skin.

Their voices all grow louder with the chant. This time, there really is a light gust of wind, whipping around them as the power in the air grows, standing every hair on Lizzie's body upright. Her skin prickles again, almost painful now, her chest constricting. 

"We have to hurry," Valerie says, having to raise her voice over the winds still trying to sweep them off their feet as she shakes her head. "If I continue for much longer, they'll die."

As if agreeing with her, the buzzing underneath Lizzie's skin dials all the way up, and her heartbeat spikes. Every inch of her is burning up now as all of them quicken their voices, the tone of the chant rising. An urgency forms around them, drawing them all in with the static in the air. 

Lizzie's head is spinning. She tries to draw in a breath but it doesn't do much good. When she looks at Josie, she manages to catch her eyes, and she can tell it's not just her that can feel it. There's something moving and shifting inside of her, the sensation of everything rising, like water being sucked out of a lake. The spell is clearly working, and yet, everything about her feels off and disoriented. 

The ground seems to shake beneath her and she quickly glances down. It's just like the prison world all over again, except this time, she knows it's not Josie who's doing it. Her entire body is vibrating with an amount of magic she isn't used to having. It's like it's pulling her in every direction, trying to free itself, and that balloon inside of her is growing and growing with no sign of stopping.

The wind whistles around her as if it's intentionally circling her head, drumming the noise deep into her skull as the flames inside of her finally seem to reach her head. Valerie's grip has tightened on her arm, trying to work faster, her voice low and uttering word after word faster than she should be able to. 

Lizzie glances at Freya in panic. It has to be nearly done. Her legs are starting to shake, and her stomach is clawing at itself, her body trying to turn itself inside out. The balloon is so close to popping, she can feel it. She catches the glint of something in Freya's hand as the sun hits off of it.

She vaguely registers that Freya's cutting open her own palm, the blood dripping into one of the bowls. Which one, Lizzie really can't be sure because everything has intensified, blurring and shifting and twisting like a distorted mirror. There's shouting, she thinks, just barely rising above the chanting and the thrum of magic coursing through the air, threatening to shock them all. She vaguely registers that one of the voices is her own as her entire body tries to crumple in on itself.

Her chest tightens painfully, and she can't breathe. No matter how hard she tries, her throat only closes up tighter. There's a loud crash, something flying past her line of sight with a splintering noise. She tries to look at Josie, but all she sees is colours and dots and bright, loud static clouding her head and her vision.

In that very moment, she's certain that she's going to die. She can feel it, creeping up her spine, its claws already hooked into her. She cheated death once and now it wants to balance things out again. 

All of the air returns to her lungs at once. She gasps, every inch of her still alight and shaking. The static is gone from her head, though, and she realizes that she can make out the ground beneath her feet quite clearly. There's a sucking feeling in the air all around her for just a split second, and then it's so much easier to breathe. The balloon has popped.

"It's done," she hears Freya announce, though her voice sounds distant, far away. "The curse is broken."

A sense of relief washes over Lizzie at hearing that. She lifts her head, looking over at Josie. It's easier as well now that she doesn't have two more twins morphing with her like a hydra. She really hopes hydras aren't real as well.

Josie looks back at her, and her mouth twitches with a small, breathless smile. Lizzie returns it without thinking, and it's then that she realizes Valerie has stepped back from both of them. And that maybe that wasn't the best idea since she's almost positive that she's swaying a little. Her legs buckle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, no cure it is then! I'm actually really happy that all of you said they shouldn't take it before this chapter was even out, that's amazing. Are we happy for Enzo? I certainly am. And the curse has finally been lifted! Please, tell me all of your thoughts on this chapter! Only two chapters left...❤


	28. All I've ever wanted is for you to be happy

The second that the winds die down as if they never even existed in the first place, Caroline stops shouting. She wasn't sure if the spell had been working or not, but it was clearly hurting Lizzie and Josie, and she wasn't about to lose them again. But then it's over. The spell is done, and according to Freya, has worked. 

She doesn't move for a moment, worried that even one wrong blink could suddenly ruin it at the very last second. Her eyes move between Lizzie and Josie as Valerie steps away, watching them carefully. Her heart is beating loudly against her ribs as if it wants to escape. She can't say she blames it right now. 

They look as if they're swaying, but she isn't positive until they both lose their balance, their legs crumbling beneath them and determined to take them down with them.

Her eyes widen and she's catching Lizzie in a second, Alaric moving nearly as fast, but not enough. Thankfully, Valerie's a second faster and is already retaking her hold on Josie. She keeps her upright, steadying her before Alaric reaches them. He takes over for her, letting her step away again. Lizzie leans back and Caroline looks down at her in concern.

"What happened?" Alaric asks, anger biting at his voice with an accusing look thrown in Freya's direction. "You said it worked! What's wrong with them?"

"Easy there, mate," Kol quickly jumps in, stepping up beside Freya. 

"I'm okay," Josie murmurs an assurance, reaching out with her hand and finding Alaric's arm. "Just a bit dizzy, that's all."

Lizzie hums her agreement.

"I was siphoning from them, to take away part of the curse," Valerie explains, waving a hand at them. "They'll be exhausted from it. They just need some rest and then they'll be fine. I swear."

Caroline glances at Lizzie and Josie, sharing a look with Alaric. When her eyes dart over to Bonnie, she confirms it, knowing that she's the only other one who's been on the other end of a siphoner.

She knows for a fact that when Lizzie and Josie have siphoned from her before that it hurt like hell, and that was only for a few seconds. Valerie had a hold of them for at least a few minutes. She guesses that siphoning a centuries-old curse from them would leave them a little weary.

Glancing at Freya, she asks, "is that really it? They're free? When they turn twenty-two, they won't...?"

"No more merge," Freya confirms. "And no curse to force them into it. It's over."

Caroline nods slowly, digesting that. It had hit her a few times over the last two days or so, ever since they talked to Kyana. She had made herself believe that it would work, otherwise she would start to spiral. But she's not sure she ever actually realized what it meant. The last ten years, all of the searching, the time spent away from them. It's finally worth it.

She just can't help but wish that the thought of talking to Kol, one of the oldest ex-witches from one of the most powerful bloodlines, had occurred to her sooner. They could have solved this so much earlier.

But when she looks at Lizzie and Josie, she can't feel anything but relief. They both still look exhausted, and she's aware that a few things have happened that weren't supposed to in a million years. But they're okay, and they're going to be for the rest of their lives, whether that's eternity or an average human lifetime.

"We should go back inside," Alaric says, still eyeing Josie with concern.

"We'll clear this up first," Bonnie tells them, nodding for them to go ahead. "Don't want any of the kids coming out here and accidentally finding all of this. Who knows what kind of mess that would create."

"Especially with this," Kol says, closing his aunt's grimoire over, having had to grab it when the table started to shake and splinter. "We certainly don't need a curse being placed upon one of your students because one of them holds a grudge."

Caroline agrees, and with one last confirmation from all of them that they'll be fine clearing everything away before they meet them back inside, she turns her attention back to Lizzie and Josie. They both assure them that they're alright to walk all the way back to the school, and so they start, a little slower, maybe, but without issue. 

When they walk back into the school, more people are roaming around than there had been when they left. Caroline smiles at students on the passing; most are familiar, but some eye her with the wariness reserved for strangers and her heart twists a little.

With everything over now, she's going to be around more. For them, for Lizzie, for Josie, for her family. Even if she doesn't return as headmistress right away, she'll be there to check up on things and ensure they're still running smoothly. 

She directs Lizzie and Josie up to their room for a little bit of rest to wind down from the spell. It's taken a lot out of them, clearly, and summer break ends tomorrow. They'll need sharp minds and clear focus with the new semester beginning, a new headmaster, and the possible threat of new creatures showing up to attack them as she heard was common last semester.

Caroline and Alaric find the rest of them outside the administration office, the door closed. Damon and Enzo are seated in the waiting chairs at the far end, Elena nowhere in sight.

There's a bandage wound around the middle of Enzo's hand, tinged a faint pink in the centre. Damon's looking over it with gentle hands, making some joke that has Enzo rolling his eyes but smiling softly as Damon plays with his fingers almost as if absentminded.

Hearing their approach, they look up at them. Enzo lowers his hand but Damon doesn't let go. Caroline smiles to herself as she stops beside them. She glances at the door, catching a snippet of conversation from inside without even trying.

"They're in there," Damon confirms for her anyway. "Professor Merlin or Gary Poppins as one of the kids has already decided to call him showed up about five minutes ago. He wanted to talk to you two personally, but when Tyler and Dorian offered themselves instead he seemed fine with it. Elena, on the other hand, was more or less dragged into the room."

Caroline raises her eyebrows and he gives a vague wave of his hand.

"He caught her bandaging Enzo up and apparently wants to familiarise himself with the local doctor in case of emergencies, I don't know," Damon shakes his head, dropping his hand, "he was spouting some weird crap."

"How did you find this guy again?" Alaric asks her, almost accusingly but with a twitch of amusement.

"It was...a witch," Caroline answers with a defensive tone. "Apparently he's big in his community or something. It took months to be able to find someone who was able to contact him. So, you're going to be nice to him, alright?"

He eyes the finger she points at him. "I'll be nice. If he's actually good at his job and doesn't ruin everything we've worked to build. I still don't think we should have brought in a complete stranger."

"Do you see any other professors around here that we know and are qualified for the job of headmaster at a school for witches, werewolves, vampires, and whatever new magical creatures are popping up nowadays?"

"She's got a point there, mate," Enzo chimes in. 

His agreement doesn't seem to help any as Alaric shoots him a halfhearted glare; he's never exactly liked Enzo, but it's only gotten worse recently. It's no secret that he blames him for Kaleb being turned since it was his blood in his system. It's been the point of a few of her arguments with Alaric over the years.

Caroline still has a sliver of hope that Enzo isn't aware of it. Bonnie's talked to her about it more than once, how Enzo harbours some sort of twisted guilt despite the fact that had he not given Kaleb his blood, he would be dead right now instead of a vampire.

She knows deep down, though, that he is aware of the reason behind Alaric's resentment and loathing of him that is for more than just Kaleb and runs far deeper than he's willing to admit. He wouldn't politely reject so many of her invitations to him when she asks the three of them over for the holidays otherwise, or let some pointed, biting remark that Alaric throws his way drop without so much as an argument. 

Alaric's the one letting it drop this time with a sigh, giving into the both of them. Caroline can't help but pleasantly surprised. It seems like maybe something has changed in the last few months, or is at least in progress of changing.

"What's he like?" Caroline asks them, biting her lower lip. "Does he seem alright to you? Someone that you would trust to run a school and look after at least a hundred kids? I heard something about him being a bit uptight?"

Damon's head tilts, his mouth opening, and she's already sure he's going to agree with that statement but with a slightly softer blow to it. She needs someone the kids will like and trust. After everything that's happened, they deserve at least that much. 

But before he can say anything, the door swings open. She's greeted with the man himself. He's taller than she was expecting, his hair styled neatly into the typical professor haircut, and his clothing immediately brings a comparison to a young Albus Dumbledore to mind. Thankfully with the exception of a robe, though the purple bowtie hanging loosely and undone around his neck and his dark red patterned waistcoat are certainly something. 

She pulls herself up, standing a little straighter. Already his blank, almost hard expression is making her question her decision to bring him in rather than searching for other options just in case he didn't work out.

"You must be Professor Vardemus," she quickly says as he pauses in the doorway at the sight of her and Alaric. "I'm Caroline Forbes-Salvatore. I was the one who brought you here?"

Recognition crosses his face, and he tilts his head up as he seems to seize her up, his eyes moving over with an unreadable look. She clears her throat, her hands fiddling nervously, and she quickly presses on. 

"I've heard so many great things about you," she tells him with a bright smile, hoping it doesn't come across as too forced. "Truth be told, I've met a few sorcerers before, but none of them seemed quite as suited for the job as you."

"I don't think sucking up to him is gonna work here, blondie," Damon mutters out of the corner of his mouth, his words practically inaudible to anyone besides herself and Enzo, seeing as how he's right next to him. 

She shifts on her feet, faltering for a moment. Her eyes dart to Alaric, silently pleading for his help. He opens his mouth, quickly turning to face Vardemus, but he's beaten to the punch.

"You do have a rather lovely school," Vardemus speaks at last, his accent throwing her a little as she turns back to him wide eyes. His lips curve an inch or two, the faintest of smiles. "I'm going to look forward to working here. Your friends were just telling me about the curriculum and the rules, and I will say that I have a few changes to make, but otherwise, it'll be a pleasure."

Caroline stares in disbelief. She was so sure he was going to turn around and reject her request of him taking over as headmaster for a semester, to start out with, at least. She makes a mental note to thank Tyler, Dorian, and Elena, sure that they had a big hand in it.

She catches Alaric clenching his jaw beside her at his bluntness, and she quickly takes a step forward before he can say something that'll ruin that. They just got him to agree to take the job, they can't afford to lose him.

"Of course," Caroline says, stretching a hand out to him and smiling a touch more sincerely when he accepts, his grip firm as he shakes her hand. "I can't wait for you to start. I'm sure the kids are really going to benefit from you being here and everything that you can teach them. And, please, if you need anything, I'll be here as well."

She lets go of his hand, sucking in a breath and making a decision on the spot. 

"I'm planning on sticking around town a little while longer," she adds.

Alaric's stupefied expression doesn't go unnoticed by her as she takes a step back. He shoots her a questioning look, but she can't answer it with Vardemus still there.

They didn't talk about what she was going to do once the spell was done and everything was finally okay for the first time in so long. She thinks that maybe they should have, and it's on her for not mentioning it.

Truthfully, she hadn't been entirely sure herself right up until that moment. Even with no reason to leave now, something doesn't feel right about Mystic Falls. The history, and the heartbreak, and all of the fights combined are overwhelming. No matter where she looks, she's reminded of something, whether it be Stefan, or her mom, or just one of the many bad moments in a long list of them. 

But then she thinks about Lizzie and Josie. Her daughters. Alaric did indeed once tell her that they needed their mother. With the search for the cure, it's been hard recently to be there for them in the way she wanted to. But it's over now. She's ready to come home. No matter how hard she tries, Mystic Falls will always be her home. 

Vardemus nods, and he actually offers a small, somewhat tight-lipped, smile. "I'm glad to hear that. I have a feeling that working with you would benefit this school and the kids in it just as well."

Caroline smiles back at him, grateful to hear that even if he doesn't really understand what it means to her. He sighs, and even that sounds sophisticated and emphasized through his accent somehow. She thought she would have gotten used to this sort of meeting before, and yet she always feels out of place somehow.

"Well, I have some things to arrange for tomorrow," he announces, and turns to look behind him at Tyler, Dorian, and Elena, sending them a single nod. "It was lovely meeting the three of you. I'll see you tomorrow when I come back."

He then turns back around, waves his goodbye to the four of them, before striding off down the hallway. Caroline watches his departing back, a slight weight lifting from her shoulders. That's one more thing sorted, and just in time for the start of the next semester.

"Well, he seems...pleasant," Enzo ventures, his head tilting. 

"Guy wasn't actually so bad," Tyler agrees as he finally walks out of the room, leaning in the doorway after Dorian and Elena slip past him. He grins, nodding his head in the direction he went. "Apparently he has some new thing for werewolves that helped in his community and he would like to implement here as well. The kids are gonna have the times of their lives with this guy."

"I give it a week before they start trying to find ways to piss him off," Damon says, a mischievous glint in his eyes that makes Caroline think he'll be stopping by just to make sure. "Just you wait and see. They'll be making Merlin tick until he has enough and flies away with his umbrella."

Caroline rolls her eyes but her lips twitch. "They will not. It might take them a while to adjust to the change, but..."

She falters, glancing around at them all, and then down the hallway, Vardemus now gone from sight. 

"Yeah, he's doomed." She turns her head, eyeing Alaric. "You're awfully quiet. Don't like him?"

He glances at her as if it's a test, but she simply raises her eyebrows with genuine curiosity. The kids may have voted him out of the school, but they opened this school together. She trusts his opinion. Most of the time. He sighs.

"He could be worse," he admits to her surprise. "I'm not saying I love the guy or that I fully trust him yet, but..." he gives a halfhearted shrug. "He seems to have experience and knows what he's doing, at least. So, I'm not going to judge him until he screws up."

Damon and Dorian both snort in obvious disagreement, and Caroline rolls her eyes again. She grins though, even as she shakes her head at him. For the first time in a long while, Alaric actually smiles back at her, and it's not forced. It feels nice. Getting along has been hard for them, and that's been hard_ on_ them, so the moments where they do are something she savours every now and then. 

"Alright, well, I have a class to go and prepare for," Dorian speaks up, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. "With Emma still on sabbatical, I have a few extra classes to substitute."

"Oh, the joys of a new semester," Tyler jokes. "I don't even know how I'm meant to teach my class with one of my students missing and still stuck as a wolf. Pretty much every question is going to be about that, and I have no idea how to answer a single one of them seeing as how literally no one has any idea what's going on with him."

"We're going to find Rafael," Alaric says firmly, his voice determined and somewhat confident, "and we'll figure out how to turn him back soon, I'm sure of it. Just try and keep things in order with the rest of the werewolves. A few of them were panicking before they left for summer break, and I don't want any of them doing anything stupid."

"Yeah, I heard. But I'll check up on them, especially after last night's full moon." Tyler then turns to Dorian, raising his eyebrows. "Help me with this semester's plan and I'll take over two of your substitutions?"

"Oh, you got a deal," Dorian says without missing a beat, lighting up.

They're quick to excuse themselves with smiles and a promise on Tyler's part to catch lunch with them later if they can all manage it. Then they're heading off down the same hallway, taking a left and disappearing out of sight. 

"I should probably go as well," Elena says, sounding regretful at having to leave so soon. "I've been away from the clinic for a few days now helping Jeremy, and I really should get back to it. I left that new intern in charge, but that doesn't exactly assure me. Wouldn't want the new mayor complaining that no one's getting medical treatment."

The last part is accompanied by a light, playful smile, a spark of humour in her eyes that Caroline has greatly missed seeing.

Caroline rolls her own eyes, but her smile grows, pulling at her mouth until it reaches her eyes. "I'm sure Mayor Donovan will make an exception for you. You are, after all, his favourite," she teases. "Plus, you're sort of the only person in this town with a medical license who actually went to college and graduated."

Elena laughs, and Caroline joins her. Just saying it out loud feels so strange, even with how many years have passed. The fact that they graduated at all was a miracle in itself with everything that happened leading up to it. But looking back on where they used to be and comparing it to where they all are now? It almost feels like some strange dream she'd have while they were in the middle of trying to take down an evil doppelganger or a vengeful Original.

"Go, go," Caroline says, shooing her, "we'll catch you later for lunch at the Grill."

"Damn it," Damon curses, groaning as he closes his eyes. "I completely forgot. I left that idiot in charge for the last two days. The building probably isn't even standing anymore. Wouldn't exactly be the first time we've had to rebuild the place."

"Don't worry, Landon was there yesterday and he said everything's fine," Alaric tells him. 

Damon exhales in relief. "I am going to give that kid a pay raise. He's officially promoted from busboy. As soon as I can find someone to take over for him."

"I'm sure he'll be glad to hear it. Just, don't give him too many extra hours. It's his first semester."

Damon agrees. He then stands, Enzo following his lead with Damon still holding his hand. Elena makes a hasty exit, leaving them with the same promise as Tyler. Damon and Enzo go to follow, though Caroline forces them to linger by pulling them into a hug.

When she lets go of Damon and has her arms around Enzo, she whispers, "I'm so happy for you. You deserve this."

He smiles when she pulls back, knowing exactly what she's referring to. She returns it, and he gives a grateful nod before he and Damon move to leave again. Perfectly timed, Bonnie rounds the corner before they can get more than two steps down the hallway. 

"Are we leaving?" she asks, looking at Damon and Enzo. "Okay, just give me a second then."

They agree, stepping back but hovering in wait for her. She walks over to Caroline and Alaric, a smile of her own forming. 

"Everything's all cleared up outside, so the Old Mill is officially a safe zone again," she tells them, and Caroline laughs lightly.

Alaric expresses his gratitude through a nod of his head, his mouth curving. She nods back, like some unspoken conversation, not a word needing to be exchanged. She supposes that's how they've always interacted as friends. It's never made sense to her, but she's gotten used to it.

"Thanks, Bon," Caroline says anyway, drawing her eyes over to her. Her own gaze softens, her voice following suit. "Not just for today, but for everything. I think I would probably have lost my mind by now if I didn't have you with me."

"Oh, you would be dead," Bonnie says, mock-serious and widening her eyes, already in the process of stepping forward and wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her in. "And I don't just mean vampire-dead."

Caroline laughs again, nodding as she winds her arms around her waist. 

"That's true," she says, "I would absolutely not be here right now if it weren't for you."

Bonnie simply hums in response. They hold the hug for a moment before she pulls away, looking up at her. Her expression shifts, the humour leaving but the fond, happy look of her best friend staying behind. 

"I would do anything for you, Care, you know that," she says softly. "And...thank your girls for me, will you? I would do it myself, but I should get home to Stefanie, and I don't want to disturb them right now. Just...tell them that I appreciate what they did so much."

Caroline smiles down at her and nods once more. "I will. And, Bonnie...I'm happy for you," she says, echoing her words to Enzo. "All I've ever wanted is for you to be happy."

"I am," Bonnie says, and is able to be completely sincere. 

It warms a piece inside of Caroline's chest, beneath her rib cage. Her friends are happy. Her family is happy, and for the first time, free of worry about the future or their lack of one. She's happy. 

She exchanges one last smile with Bonnie before she excuses herself. Caroline watches Bonnie head back over to Damon and Enzo, but before they leave, one last thing comes to her mind.

"Oh, and—" she holds up a hand for them to wait just a second, hurrying into the office to their confusion. She scans the room and her eyes lock onto what she's looking for. 

She moves back out into the hallway with the Grimoire in hand. Bonnie relaxes, realization flashing across her face. She smiles as Caroline walks over to her and hands it over. 

"It was about time this was returned to its rightful owner," she says.

Bonnie makes a noise of agreement and they share a knowing smile. Caroline quickly pulls her in for one last hug, then finally lets her go, stepping back to Alaric's side. She watches the three of them leave together like the perfect, happy family. She knows perfect doesn't exist, but she's sure they're about as close to it as anyone in Mystic Falls can get. 

The hallway suddenly feels so quiet once they're gone. Even the muffled voices all around from students wandering the halls don't seem to be enough to fill it. She glances at Alaric out of the corner of her eye, the two of them the only ones left. 

"So," she starts carefully, turning herself around to face him, "what's next?"

It's such a vague question, and she's not even sure what answer she's expecting from him. She's so uncertain herself about what they're supposed to do now; for years, the merge was their main focus. How to prevent it, keeping it a secret from the girls.

They had both hoped that they would eventually no longer have to worry about it, but Caroline never really thought about what that would mean. What comes next now that it's over?

Alaric takes a moment to answer her, and she's sure he's just going to shrug and say he doesn't know either. It would be a valid answer and the only one that she's sure she would be able to give him in return. Instead, he considers her question, a deep, thoughtful look on his face. He inhales slowly and lifts his head to look at her.

"Josie told me about a job opening at Mystic Falls High," he tells her, and her eyebrows lift. "It's for the principal position. I think I'm going to go in today, see if I can still apply. I think it's a good place to start, at least."

Caroline blinks, her surprise probably written all across her face. It's good though. Her mouth curves, smiling in happy disbelief as she shakes her head slightly. 

"That sounds...like a really good idea," she says sincerely. 

"I'm glad you think so," he says. A small crease appears between his eyebrows, his head tilting as a curious look creeps across his face. "So... you're really going to stay?"

She's the one slowly drawing in a deep breath, and she's certain of her answer now.

"Yeah. I am. There's no reason for me not to. But — it's not just that," she quickly says, shaking her head, "it's more than that. I want to stay. For the girls. For the school, especially now that _Professor Vardemus_ is running it, which will hopefully not be into the ground. For... everything, I guess."

Alaric quietly studies her for a moment. She can't even begin to tell what he's thinking, and she's sure that he's probably thinking that she would leave in a heartbeat if she wasn't worried about the new headmaster ruining everything they built.

To her surprise, he smiles, and it's friendly and amused. "Nostalgia hitting you hard now that you're here?"

Caroline practically sinks with relief. She huffs out an exhale and nods.

"Absolutely," she agrees. "Even just that walk into town earlier while we were looking for Rafael made me realize how much I miss this place. All of the lights and little flag bunting were still up from last night's event!"

Alaric scoffs, half chuckling at the same time as he shakes his head. "I knew the flag bunting would do it for you."

"Can you blame me?" she counters, widening her eyes. "Did you see the detail on those things? They are so much better than any of the decorations we were given to use for town events. Honestly, I want my place back on the town decoration committee."

"Caroline, you cannot steal the flags, no matter how pretty they are," Alaric says with a sparkle in his eyes. 

She's the one scoffing this time, and with a joyous, content tug inside of her, says, "just watch me."

* * *

Lizzie complies when her mom insists that she and Josie rest some more, her limbs still somewhat shaky and unbalanced. She goes up to her room, Josie moving alongside her, neither really saying a word. It's not a tense silence, though, just the result of neither of them having anything that needs to be said out loud and both clearly thinking the same things. 

They enter their room, but instead of going straight to her bed, Lizzie moves across to her bedside drawers. Josie pauses in her track to her own bed, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion at her. 

"What are you doing?" she asks. 

"Changing," Lizzie simply says as she pulls at one drawer, rummaging through it for something different. "I feel like I've been in these clothes for a week, and I'm pretty sure that I still have a piece of glass in my hair. Although I think Aunt Elena must have gotten the rest while we were dead, because I was sure that I had at least three bits in my hand." She then shrugs. "Besides, I'm not that tired."

She holds up a dress she hasn't worn in a while. It's one of her favourites, with its black and white polka dot pattern. It's looked pretty good on her the few times she's worn it, and it's possibly the most comfortable thing she has on hand at the moment. Shrugging to herself, she grabs a plain top as well before closing the drawer.

"Yeah, I think I'm just gonna head down to the common room," Josie says. "I've missed at least three calls with Penelope this week. I guess she'll understand once I explain that we got trapped in a magical prison world, met our uncle who killed us and turned us into vampires, and then we performed a spell to stop us from ever having to merge."

Lizzie blinks, turning around to face Josie. She leans back against the drawers, breathing out slowly.

"Wow, it sounds so much crazier than it feels," she says with a shake of her head. "I can't believe any of it actually happened."

"It feels like some messed up dream," Josie agrees, her gaze somewhere on the floor, and Lizzie isn't really focused on her either if she's being fair. "Like we're finally waking up after these last few months, since finding out about the merge."

"Sort of as if it none of it was real..." Lizzie says quietly, and a little part of her can't help but question if it really was. 

Except, she knows, inside of herself, that it was. There's a stirring inside of her, pulling like gentle hands trying to get her attention and alert her to what's happening beneath her own skin, reminding her that it's real. The faint smell of smoke from the candles clings to her, too, and her arm still aches a little from Valerie's grip while she was siphoning the curse.

"It's actually over," Josie says, looking over at her now as Lizzie meets her eyes. "We don't have to merge."

Lizzie lets that sink in. Because it hadn't already. The reality of it was staring her right in the face, and she knew what it would mean if they did the spell, and yet, she didn't. That's it. With that one spell, she and Josie are free for the rest of their lives.

"For the best, obviously," she says, quickly sucking in another breath and throwing a light note into her voice as she shrugs again. "It would have totally sucked to have been absorbed. I wonder if it's painful."

Josie stares at her with such disbelief that she's practically the spitting image of their mom when she does something wrong, or anyone who's ever had that exact same look that gets directed to her when she says something maybe a little too out of line or without enough thought.

"_What_?" Lizzie defends. "I'm allowed to joke about it now! I'm not gonna have to become a part of you. Which, you know, has really got me understanding your whole need for independence a lot better. Maybe a little separation wouldn't be the worst thing after all."

Josie seems torn between scoffing and rolling her eyes with fond amusement. She opts for both, shaking her head as she looks away from her. 

"Now you come around," she says sarcastically. "That would have been great earlier before dad gave Penelope's old room away to _Sebastian_."

"Okay, do not say his name like that." Lizzie points a finger at her as Josie merely raises her eyebrows, as if completely innocent of the twin-crime that she is clearly committing. "I have well and truly moved on from him, alright? And I do not care one bit that he is probably going to be dating that mop-headed hobbit within a week of the new semester."

"Oh yeah, you totally sound cool about that. Not at all bitter or jealous. Just like you were totally cool about Penelope."

Lizzie gasps. "How dare you! I was not _bitter _or _jealous_ about you dating evil incarnate, nor am I about Sebastian. It happens sometimes. Usually not to me, but I suppose it's just another experience in life that will help me grow as a person and mature even further."

Josie grins. "So you're gonna start calling Sebastian 'he-who-shall-not-be-named'?"

"No," Lizzie scoffs, and Josie arches an eyebrow at her. "That's not nearly creative enough."

Josie snorts, rolling her eyes again. Lizzie smiles, a little bit of comfort brought to her by the familiar joking and playful conversation. She can certainly get used to this bolder version of Josie that she seems to be easing into. Everything about their personalities is heightened, and she can't say that she isn't enjoying it. Even if it comes with a little bit of teasing every now and then.

"I'll catch you downstairs," Josie says. "I think changing out of these clothes isn't a bad idea, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need a shower to stop feeling like I'm covered in glass."

Lizzie nods and leaves her to find something to change into, leaving their room with her own clothes still in hand. She steals Josie's idea of a shower. She throws away the piece of glass that she manages to untangle from her hair before changing in the blink of an eye. 

She stares at the mirror with wide eyes. Every movement feels different. It's as if she can do things faster now without even noticing until it's done. She can absolutely use that to her advantage. Just, maybe once she has better control of it. 

Leaving the bathroom, she makes her way down the stairs. It's hard not to notice a few pairs of eyes following her. When she whips around, glare at the ready to burn right through them, they're fast to snap back to what they were doing before as if they hadn't even noticed her. She supposes that news about what happened was bound to travel fast, and perhaps it warrants a bit of curiosity and staring. 

Rather than shrinking into herself under the watchful, intrigued stares, she pulls herself up to her full height and continues her strides down the hallway. A smirk settles on her lips. Why shouldn't she be proud of what she now is? She's never been one to shy away from the public eye, after all, and this is just one more thing pushing her into the spotlight. Let them stare. She's more than happy to soak it up for as long as it lasts. 

Something rattles in her pocket, she notices at long last. She frowns but reaches in. Her fingers close around a small plastic box. The last time she wore that particular dress comes back to her. It was also the last day she took her medication. 

She hesitates, pausing in the hallway and ignoring everyone that walks past her, a constant stream now with the new semester officially beginning tomorrow. Being a vampire heightens everything about her. It doesn't cure chemical imbalances. And not taking her medication hasn't exactly been doing her any favours. That's one of the reasons she managed to stay so positive in Europe during the break. She only stopped the day before she returned home. 

Sighing, she pulls the box out. It rattles with the reminder of how much she's been trying to ignore it lately. She opens it as she continues walking, immediately counting the little pills. Ten. If she takes one now, she can get her mom to go down to the pharmacy and renew her prescription. 

She's distracted when she walks into the kitchen and nearly startles at the sight of someone else already there. It shouldn't surprise her considering the number of students at the school and how used to it she is by now, and yet, she can't help herself. 

"Oh, hey, Lizzie," Kaleb greets her with a single nod, glancing back at her over his shoulder before turning back to the fridge. "You come for a drink? Your mom's stocked half the freezer with blood bags from the hospital."

Lizzie blinks once then pushes her hands behind her back and forces herself to walk forward, out of her slight daze. "Uh, yeah. I could definitely use a drink."

"I bet." He pulls back from the fridge, holding up a blood bag. It's labelled with the Mystic Falls hospital logo and details on the type; AB positive. Her mom's second choice. "I heard 'bout the spell. Probably took a lot out of you, huh?"

"That's an understatement," she scoffs, her limbs still heavy and her body aching a little all over. 

He nods at the blood and offers it to her as she eyes it. She can already feel her jaw aching and the burning emptiness in the pit of her stomach quickly scales its way up to her throat, threatening to swallow her whole with hunger.

She reaches out one hand, accepting it from him. She hesitates, her heartbeat spiking. This is Kaleb, she reminds herself. They've just been to hell and back together, and he's never once made a comment about her being crazy or having a meltdown like half of the school have. She can trust him.

"Do you think it's safe to take medication with blood?" she blurts before she can stop herself, bringing the box back out from behind her with her heart in her throat. She glances up at him, keeping her face a mask of neutrality. 

"Oh yeah, it's totally safe," he says without missing a beat, completely casual without even a falter. "MG's been taking his with the animal stuff, and he's been fine. We checked in with Elena first, though. She's sort of the expert in vampire medicine around here, and she says it won't do anything, so you should be fine."

All of the worry leaves Lizzie's body just like that. She breathes out, her mouth curving, and she nods. It was as easy as that. It's not as if she had been expecting some big reaction, but maybe a pause of hesitation or a blunt question. He didn't even think to question her or have even a flicker of judgement. 

She attempts to pull the box open with one hand, but it's stiff, and she's remembering why she didn't bother with it on that last day in Europe. The effort just to get into it alone wasn't worth it. 

"Here, gimme that." Kaleb gestures to the box and takes it from her fingers. He nods his head at the blood bag that she's trying not to squeeze. "Every vamp should open their first blood bag on their own."

She pauses for just another moment, uncertain, then looks down at the bag. It finally occurs to her that she has no idea what she's doing. There are two little tubes, one longer than the other and with a weird sort of clamp at the end, while the other seems to have a strange plastic piece that she thinks she could tear off.

Deciding that the longer tube looks more promising, she gives the clamp-like piece a twist. It breaks off with ease, and she smiles to herself, weirdly pleased. She looks back up at Kaleb and finds the little box open with a pill already in his outstretched hand, offering it to her. 

A little piece in her chest warms, growing, and she smiles gratefully as she accepts it from him. She then takes a careful hold of the tube, placing it between her lips, and takes a long drink from it. Before swallowing, she slips the pill into her mouth. The feeling of it going down her throat is overshadowed by the relief that the taste of the blood gives her. 

"You good?" Kaleb asks, and it might just be the most genuine Lizzie has ever heard him. 

She nods, still smiling, and he shoots her one back as he closes the box and sets it on the island. It kicks up a storm of fluttering in her stomach and she is more than glad that he ducks back into the freezer for a blood bag of his own at that very moment. Her skin burns as if on fire, and she curses Josie in her head. This is all her fault. 

She focuses on the blood instead, telling herself it's just her trying to adjust. She takes another long drink from the bag, taking her time to give her heartbeat a chance to steady.

Kaleb's eyebrows shoot up, and he breathes out a low chuckle at her lack of hesitation and repeats. "I see that you're not gonna have any problems with feeding."

She makes a noise to agree with him, shaking her head as she swallows the blood. Despite only tasting it once when it was warm, she already knows that she prefers it cold. It soothes her throat far better, and it's as if the slight chill gives the flavour a twist. Like adding a drop of lemon to a glass of water, or a sprinkle more sugar to a cup of coffee.

He just gives another huff of a laugh as he opens his own bag with ease, closing the freezer over. As he drinks from it, he leans back against the island, looking as casual as someone would while snacking on a chocolate bar or an apple.

She can't help but watch the way his eyes shift, and she's sure that her own are doing the exact same as she drinks in another mouthful of blood, slowing her pace to savour it better. There's something almost entrancing about it. The way his veins move, subtle but there, crawling across his skin, trying to reach his eyes. They're like little hands trying to get just a drop from the blood-red pools that overtake his eyes for a second, seemingly as hungry as they are. 

It takes her a moment to remember that staring at people is usually considered rude and a little weird, and she starts to shift uncomfortably, realizing, but it's a moment too late. Kaleb's already caught her eyes, arching an eyebrow at her. He lowers the bag.

"What?" he asks. "You obviously wanna say something or else you wouldn't have that weird look on your face you get when you're overthinking something. So, just come out and say it."

Lizzie would, but she's too taken-aback to remember what it was exactly that she was thinking. He says it as if he knows her so well, like he could name every little quirk and facial twitch she has for every emotion.

As far as she's aware, he's never paid even a second of attention to her. At least not before they started working together against Malivore's monsters, but she is certain that no one would be able to figure her out so easily in such a short amount of time. 

She blinks, trying to clear her head, her lips parting. Kaleb's still staring at her, a little more expectantly now, and she remembers that he asked her a question. She goes to open her mouth to answer him despite the fact that is sure she has no idea what is about to come out her mouth, but then pauses as a thought finally crosses her mind. 

Words have never worked well for her. She and words have a complicated relationship, some might say, and she would agree. It always comes out the wrong way, and no matter how hard she tries to be careful of what she says, she somehow manages to mess it up anyway. In her head, it sounds great, and then she starts blurting out a whole load of offensive comments at once. Words don't work for her, not when it's something she really wants to get across the right way.

"Earth to planet Lizzie?" Kaleb says, raising his eyebrows at her. "You doin' alright? Maybe you should finish the bag. You seem a bit spaced out. I don't know if maybe that's the medication, and I get it with everything that's—"

"I'm going to do something," Lizzie quickly cuts him off, her heart beating loudly in her ears as it quickens in pace and Kaleb comes to an abrupt halt, "and if it's not okay, please stop me, but I just really need to see."

Kaleb falters, uncertain and staring at her, but she crosses the space between them in the blink of an eye, leaving her blood bag on the island. She doesn't even mean to move so fast. But one second she's thinking what a terrible idea this is, and the next, she's leaning in and kissing him.

Her skin bursts into flames again. Maybe from the adrenaline or maybe the fear of being rejected by yet another person. Either way, she's kissing him. She hurries to pull herself back, her heart threatening to crack a rib. 

She doesn't dare look at him. Her eyes are still closed, and she ducks her head, doing everything she can not to see the look on his face. If she can't stop the rejection, at least she can delay it.

No matter what his reaction is though, at least she knows now. Josie was right. Otherwise, she wouldn't have a desire to do it again, and her insides wouldn't have caught alight for the two seconds that her lips were on his. 

"What the hell was that?" Kaleb asks after a beat, and she winces, but his words are slow. 

She lifts her eyes to him, confused, but she can't find a hint of anger or even that sympathetic look that is given to wounded animals and people who are about to have their hearts stomped on. He just looks as confused as she feels. Maybe with a twinge of curiosity. That could just be a figment of her mildly hopeful imagination, but Kaleb is searching her eyes for something.

"There's a possibility that I...might have feelings for you?" she ventures, trying her damn hardest not to mess up, because he needs an actual answer, with words. "Okay, there's a big possibility. And no, I have no idea how or why, I just—"

She steps away from him, shaking her head as she turns her back on him. She starts to pace, closing her eyes as her hands move vaguely through the air, completely disconnected from her brain which seems to have switched onto autopilot, which for her, is panic-mode.

"It's just that — Josie asked me this dumb question, and I laughed it off," she tries to explain, but her words are flowing out of her now like a broken dam as she moves back up the length of the floor only to spin right back around. "But then I got to thinking about it, and I realized that maybe it wasn't so crazy. Except, it is! Right? It's absolutely ridiculous. I mean — not that me liking you is ridiculous, because — you know what I mean, right? I just — I have these feelings for you, and I don't know what to do about them now because I never thought this would happen."

She spins on her heel at the opposite end of the room from where she started and looks across at him. Her heartbeat is all she can hear, like a drum banging in her skull. Kaleb is quiet. That scares her. Quiet isn't much better than an outright question of her sanity or a freaked-out rejection.

But his eyebrows have knitted together, and he doesn't look so much as irritated or offended as just plain confused. Maybe a little worried, but she's sure that part is her projecting onto him. She's starting to notice that she does that when she gets anxious.

"Hold up," he says slowly, and she does, waiting with a held breath. "When did you start feeling this?"

She falters. That's not the first question she was expecting if she's honest, but she supposes it's a valid one. 

"I...I don't know," she answers honestly, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "But—"

"I need you to do something," he says, quickly cutting her off, and she's sure that she's not imaging the worry in his voice. It's almost bordering on panicked, and she's never really heard him panicked before. It's not doing much to assuage the nervous bubble building inside of her.

"Uh, okay," she says uncertainly, throwing her hands out. "What do you need me to do?"

"You can't drink from blood bags," he says, quickly holding up the one he still has in his hands. "You need to drink straight from the vein. Now I need you to drink from this."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lizzie asks, eyeing him with confusion.

"Just humour me," he says, looking her in the eyes. "Please. I need you to do this."

Lizzie hesitates, staring at him for a moment as she tries to figure out what's going on. He seems almost afraid, his eyes silently pleading with her to just do what he's asking. It makes absolutely no sense to her, and if anything, he sounds like the crazy one. She's never seen him like this before. 

Her shoulders drop and she lets out a heavy sigh. Then she snatches the bag from his hands, his eyes following her every movement, and she rolls her eyes. 

"You know, if you didn't like the kiss you could just tell me instead of making me do whatever weird thing this is," she tells him, her tone almost bitter, but she brings the tube of the bag to her lips anyway. Clearly it's important to him, and unfortunately for her, she actually cares.

He watches her as she draws the blood up through the tube and swallows it. It's already gone slightly warm from being out for a few minutes, but it's still nice. A good balance, and slightly tangy. She glances down at the label on the bag and notes that it's A positive. Not bad. She guesses she's not as picky about blood as she is with food. 

"Alright, I did it," she says, waving the bag slightly for emphasis before setting it down next to her own as she looks back up at him. "Now, care to explain the point?"

Kaleb waits a moment, his eyes moving over as if searching for some sign of something. What, she has no clue, and frankly, it's a little annoying. A simple rejection would have sufficed and would be far less embarrassing. Even Sebastian pretending he didn't notice her blatant attempts to flirt with him weren't this humiliating.

"You don't feel sick at all?" he asks.

"No," she says. "Why? Did you poison the blood or something?"

Relief seems to sink into his features, and confused doesn't even begin to describe what she's feeling right now. Kaleb exhales, shaking his head as his mouth curves.

"I just had to check," he replies, far more casual now. "Damon told me this thing about sire bonds and how sometimes when a vamp gets turned by someone's blood, they can develop this weird connection to them. It just sort of heightens everything they already felt for them, but it's like they want to please them and do anything that will make them happy."

Lizzie's eyes narrow as she works through what he's saying, digesting it. She definitely remembers her uncle Damon telling her about sire bonds, and how that's what happened to her aunt Elena when she turned from his blood. It should have clicked in her mind sooner that that's what Kaleb was testing for.

"So...you thought that I was _sired_ to you and that's why I have feelings for you?" She stares at him and he nods. "That doesn't even make any sense, I definitely liked you before I turned, which you would have known if you had just let me finish talking. And — sire bonds are so dumb. Why are they even a thing?"

"Hey, I'm not disagreeing with you," Kaleb says, holding his hands up. "I just freaked, that's all. Your mom and your dad would both kill me if you ended up sired to me."

"Well, I'm _not_," she points out slowly, giving a slight shake of her head as she raises her eyebrows at him. 

The message seems to get across loud and clear. His eyes widen a little, but he's never one to be thrown for long, she's noticed. The surprise and uncertainty of how to approach fall away almost immediately. A relaxed expression settles on his face instead, and as he returns to his calm exterior, there's a glint in his eyes, and maybe she really doesn't want a rejection this time. Maybe she just really wants, just for once, for someone that she likes to actually like her as well.

"You said I could stop you if I didn't want you to do what you were gonna do? " Kaleb asks slowly, and his voice is much lower, she can't help but notice even as she nods, her stomach twisting with a familiar sinking feeling. "Well, if you wanted to do it again, I already know that MG's totally over you and is fine with this since he's got a thing for my sister, so I ain't gonna complain."

Lizzie stops. The realization hits her full force, and suddenly the way he's looking at her seems different. He's got a smirk ghosting across his lips that is so like him that she can't even be annoyed. It's a comforting sight, in fact, and even more so when he's biting his lip and raising his eyebrows just enough for his meaning to be thrown out clearly into the open.

She can't bring herself to be nervous anymore. She crashes forward without so much as a beat of hesitation, kissing him again. This time, though, he kisses back.

Heat is rising to her skin once more, engulfing her in the feeling. It's like every nerve in her body is being affected by it, pushed and prodded and poked at with sparks crawling beneath her skin. It's exhilarating and she wants more in a way that she is sure her emotions are probably being heightened by her vampiric side. All she knows is that she doesn't want him to stop kissing her. 

Her hands shift to either side of Kaleb's neck, pulling him in closer and deepening the kiss. He responds with his hands settling on her waist, pressing forward a little more until she's sure he can't anymore. She nearly startles when she's lifted off of her feet with ease, but she doesn't break the kiss for a single second. Impressive, if she does say so herself. 

She can't help but grin then as she wraps her legs around him and feels the surface of the island beneath her. It gives her a little more height, making her adjust the angle of her head, but she doesn't mind a bit. If anything, it just urges her on.

They pull back for a second, both sucking in a breath of air and cooling the burn in their lungs. Lizzie's eyes move all over his face, searching in that split second, the last speck of doubt clinging on tightly and just waiting for the other shoe to drop. It did with Rafael, and that was so much worse, so why wouldn't it with Kaleb?

But he meets her eyes and holds onto her gaze as his mouth curves up. He presses his lips together, giving a slight shake of his head that has her own tilting in curiosity as she continues getting control of her breathing. There's something so different about his expression from the one she's gotten used to in the last year.

He reaches a hand up, gently tucking a stray strand of her still damp hair behind her ear where it was supposed to be pinned back. Her breath catches, her heart stuttering so obviously that he has to notice. But he's just gazing at her with slightly narrowed eyed and a thoughtful look, his hand lingering on the side of her neck, and she can't think straight. He huffs out a soft chuckle.

"How the hell has it taken me this long to notice that you're this cute?" he asks with a disbelieving shake of his head. "I knew you were hot, obviously, but — if I had realized this way sooner, I would absolutely have kissed you by now."

Lizzie's face is on fire. "Shut up," she groans, but it turns into a laugh, her eyes wide. "You're supposed to be all tough or whatever, not _romantic_. Toxic masculinity, remember?"

"Hey, screw that. Romance is superior here, alright? Someone's cute, I'ma tell them. And you are adorable," Kaleb says, grinning. "And you deserve to hear that. It's all part of the 'wooing' process, right?"

Lizzie bursts into laughter, unable to stop herself. "Oh my god, you did not just say that. What are you, a knight from Camelot?" Kaleb's grin only brightens and she can't keep her own off of her face. "Just — come here."

She's still partially laughing as she drags him back into a kiss, and he happily leans back in. It's so different from what she was expecting. Her stomach is a storm of little flapping wings by now, and her cheeks must be bright red from that conversation alone, and neither of them are quite able to stop smiling, to her surprise. 

He's still fast and his lips press hard against hers, for sure, but there's a passion underlying it that catches her pleasantly by surprise. It makes her think that she clearly hasn't been the only one developing completely ridiculous and undeniable feelings recently.

It all clicks in her head at last, feeling his hands shift from her waist to her thighs. The wooing process. She knew something was up with him the past few days. She assumed he was just being nice, of course, and maybe that's all it was. But she could sense something else there, it just didn't make enough sense for her to bother thinking on it. 

Her cheeks are probably flushing an even deeper shade of red at the moment, but she can't bring herself to care. Their lips are still moving, the kiss softening them and plumping them at the same time as Kaleb's hands push at the edge of her dress. Her skin tingles and bursts to life at every little shift and glide of his fingers and hands.

She can't help but laugh again when there's a sharp sting to her bottom lip and she feels the slight pull of his fangs. It only makes her kiss him harder, something he deeply enjoys and finds pleasure in if the way his mouth curves against hers again is any indication. 

"Oh, whoa!"

Lizzie flies back at the sound of a voice. It only registers in her head a second later that it's Sebastian, and she whips her head around as best she can to look at him with wide eyes. Kaleb barely blinks. He tenses, but he doesn't seem even a little fazed, that casual smirk still ghosting across his lips even as she senses a slight shift in him.

"Uh, it's...this..." she stammers, uncertain of what exactly is the right way to respond to the particular situation. Her face has clearly already decided on burning bright red at being caught in the kitchen, of all places, and by Sebastian. Of course. 

"I totally get it," Sebastian says, practically beaming at them. He winks, and then he's backing away, clearly deciding that whatever it was he was going to get isn't all that important anymore. 

Lizzie stares at the doorway for a moment, trying to collect herself as her head tilts. "That was...weird."

"He's a weird dude," Kaleb says.

Lizzie turns back to him. She looks at him for a moment, and he holds her gaze, and then she breaks. Something she can only describe as a giggle slips past her lips as she quickly bites down on her lower lip, and Kaleb is there laughing along with her.

"Guess we should have seen that one coming considering we're in the kitchen," she says, and yet can't entirely bring herself to care. Privacy and secrecy have never really been big things for her. 

"Yeah, we should probably leave," he says, still grinning, and she agrees with another puff of laughter and a nod.

His hands shift back to her waist and she uses his shoulders as she hops down, him partially lifting her. She can't help but grin right back at him as he doesn't step back even an inch, and she raises an eyebrow at him. She leans in once more to kiss him, relishing in how he tilts his head the tiniest bit and kisses her back as deeply as before as if they've been doing this for years.

"Later," she promises, not quite pulling away as their lips still brush. 

He hums his agreement, then pulls back completely, finally removing his hands from her waist. He's still wearing a bright smile and his eyes are practically sparkling with something that threatens to holds her there forever, entrancing and soft and so intriguing that she has to physically pull herself away from it. 

As she turns away from him, swiping up her little box of medication, she pulls herself together. Her teeth dig into her bottom lip once more as she heads for the common room, Kaleb lingering behind to clear up the blood bags. None of this is what she was expecting, and it's exactly what she wants. Everything is just starting to feel right for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, but I gotta say it now: Lizzie and Kaleb were my favourite part about writing this chapter and I love them. But Vardemus is in town, Caroline's staying, and Lizzie and Josie are adjusting to being vampires. Things are starting to look up. What do you think? I'd love to hear all your thoughts on this chapter! The last one goes up tonight...are you ready for the end? I'm bloody well not. ❤


	29. Everything has changed

The exhaustion has worn off fairly quickly, Josie notices. There's still a weary sort of feeling hanging over her, and it's what makes her eyelids stay closed a second longer when she blinks. But she's not_ tired_, and she wouldn't be able to force herself to sleep even for ten minutes. 

Throughout the entire spell, as it was being performed, there was a dull buzzing pressing against her skin. It wasn't like any magic she had ever felt before, though the three times she's performed dark magic certainly come close. It's almost entirely gone, but it's left behind a trace of it; this strange sensation that has her head unable to shut off and her hands spreading and closing against the arm of the couch, playing with the feeling of the magic still locked at the tips of her fingers. 

The familiar feeling of magic in her system hasn't left her once since she woke up. It's like she's brimming with it now, her veins tingling and sparking to life with the magic that runs through her blood, pumping around her heart. A side-effect of being a heretic, she reminds herself. She now has a constant source of magic. 

"Jo-Jo, you're getting in your head again."

Josie quickly snaps herself from her thoughts, tearing her eyes away from her hand to look back at her phone held in the other instead. She breathes out a quiet, sheepish laugh as Penelope raises her eyebrows, smiling softly through the screen.

"Sorry," she apologizes, shaking her head. "What were we talking about?"

"Uh, well, there was the fact that you're a vampire-witch hybrid, which I didn't even know was possible," Penelope says. "And I'm not even there to see how freaking awesome that is."

"I can verify that it is indeed awesome," MG says from behind Josie, startling her. 

He grins innocently when she turns to look at him over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes at him. Penelope scoffs as he hops over the back of the couch and drops into the seat next to her. 

"It's not that special," Josie says, heat rising to her cheeks when they both stare at her as if she's just gone and said that the earth isn't round or that their shared favourite character from a show is the worst. "It just means I stop ageing and have some better senses, like every other vampire around here."

"Yeah, but you can still do _magic_," Penelope says as if it's obviously the coolest thing in the world. 

Josie rolls her eyes, but she knows that arguing with either of them is pointless. They've clearly made up their minds about it, and the fact that they are, for once, on the same page about something isn't slipping her notice. She isn't going to take that away from them when all she wanted for a while is for them to get along. 

"I totally get why you turned down the cure," Penelope adds. "I mean, being a vampire for just a couple of hours is no fun. You have to really experience it first. Right, MG?"

Her eyes move to what's visible of him on the screen, raising her eyebrows pointedly. Josie knows she's doing it to reassure her. Penelope's always been able to read her too well and there is the tiniest bit of doubt pulling at her. It seems so easy to decide that she wants an eternity and more right now, but she can't help but wonder if she will regret it down the line, like a lot of vampires seem to.

She tilts her phone a little to get more of him in the shot as MG squirms. He shifts almost uncomfortably, glancing between her and Penelope. He raises a shoulder, giving a half-grin.

"I guess, yeah. I mean, if you know that the cure is still gonna be available if you want it then...yeah." He looks at Josie, and his grin brightens. "Besides, it'll be fun to be all vampy with you, even if it's just for a couple of months if that's what you decide."

Josie grins back and it breaks into light laughter when he nudges her with his elbow jokingly.

"And I guess we'll just have to have double the amount," he quickly adds, his eyes darting back to the screen with a playful look at Penelope that's new in some way, though not unfamiliar from all of his attempts to create some sort of connection with her, "seeing as you're all the way in Belgium and all."

Penelope sends him a mock glare that Josie can see through with ease, even if MG can't. There's no bite to it at all, not even the fake kind that she always uses when she tries to act like she doesn't care. It's all playful and soft, and maybe even a little fond. It surprises her and she can't help but wonder what she missed.

A lot, she guesses, since she tried not to pay any mind to anything going on between the two of them last semester. It was easier that way, but now she can't help but wish she had paid just a little more attention. 

"Then I think that the both of you will be happy to hear that I might be coming back," Penelope says with a coy sort of smile.

Josie stops, her breath catching in her throat. Out of the corner of her own wide eyes, she catches the thrown expression overtaking MG's face, his eyes nearly as wide. 

"Wait, what?" she blurts before she can stop herself.

"Seriously?" MG chimes in. "When? And — how?"

"Wow, I was not expecting this much excitement," Penelope says with a light laugh of her own, her face bright and clearly thrilled about their reactions. "But, relax, okay? I just meant that my mom and dad have been talking about coming back, at least for a month. Something's going on with my mom's work again, I don't know. But I might be coming back for a visit, and I will be spending every second that I can trying to convince them that we should just move back permanently."

"I can talk to them if you like," MG says, perking up with his grin back in place. "I'm great with parents. And, I've heard, I can make a convincing argument. Just..." he sinks down a little, "...you know, not with the whole honour council thing. Wasn't my best moment."

Penelope breathes out another laugh, the noise slipping into a scoff as she shakes her head. 

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm gonna go with a firm no on that one," she tells him, and he shrugs. "I'll get them to come around. But when I come back, you two better not have sucked all of the fun out of things, alright? I want at least ten percent left for my arrival, and I expect to be greeted with the most awesome welcome back ever."

Josie grins and shares a look with MG. Already, she can see his mind working away, the subtle little twitches in his face telling her that he's got at least ten ideas already forming. She's probably going to have to veto them in order to ensure that Penelope doesn't hex him, but they'll come up with something. They're great at planning things together.

"I think we can manage that," MG says, and Josie nods. 

"Good," Penelope says, grinning right back at them.

The look on her face is flashing Josie back to so many different memories. So many little moments, with that exact fondness and adoration directed at her. She can't even say that she minds seeing it directed at another person. Maybe if it were anyone else, but with MG, she gets it. 

"Oh, and..." Penelope falters, her tone shifting slightly as she looks at Josie, "...I'm glad about the merge. Really. I didn't think you would find a way so soon, but...I'm just glad."

Josie draws in a breath, letting it settle into her lungs, and she realizes that it's so much easier than it has been the last few weeks. She remembers something Landon asked her a few weeks back, when they were doing that locator spell to find Rafael. He had asked her if she was happy. Something had nagged at her then, and she could tell that something was on his mind as well, but she never pressed it.

"So am I," she says. "At least now I don't have to spend every minute feeling like I'm running out of time."

"You're free," MG adds knowingly, nodding with a gentle smile. 

Penelope agrees with him. Josie rolls the word around in her head, considering it carefully. Free. Even if she hadn't known up until a few months ago that she was trapped and bound to a coven that she had never even had the chance to be a part of or know, it still feels light it's been a lifetime. It feels good knowing that her future is unclear but doesn't have a ticking timer set on it. 

The word also brings around a face. Kai. She helped free him. In more ways than one, she supposes. It makes her stomach turn, and she still hasn't asked for any details on what happened because she can't bring herself to hear them quite yet, but she knows. It was for the best. She just has to remember that he was the bad guy. It wasn't her fault.

Her eyes drift, catching movement by the front of the common room. Landon walks in, Sebastian at his side. She can't help but be amused by how he keeps throwing glances at him as if looking for something. Some sort of giant neon sign. Lizzie and Kaleb really got into his head. 

Their eyes lock across the room, and she can practically see the relief on his face as his shoulders sink. He's quick to say something to Sebastian, pointing over in the complete opposite direction before he can notice them.

Sebastian's eyebrows twitch and he nods along as if agreeing with him on something. Josie can see though that he's clearly humouring him, fond amusement shining far too brightly as he tilts his head with a knowing expression. He then says something in return before walking in the direction Landon pointed, leaving the room with a shake of his head.

Josie's eyes follow him. She catches him pause at the opposite doorway leading to the kitchen, seeming to startle for just a second at something out of her sight. He says something, then he's flashing a grin and backing up, disappearing around the other corner instead.

She looks back just in time as Landon hurries over to them. He flops down onto the armchair opposite from them, cutting through the conversation MG and Penelope had only just started up with a heavy sigh. 

"You good, dude?" MG asks him, quirking an eyebrow. 

"Is that Landon he's talking to?" Penelope asks right away, making a face. "Only he makes noises that pitiful."

Josie smiles a little and confirms her guess with a nod, but looks over at Landon as well in confusion.

"This is all Lizzie's and Kaleb's fault," Landon says in answer, and Josie is silently triumphant on her own guess.

He shakes his head, quickly sitting up in the chair and looking at them with wide, almost wild eyes.

"I was _fine_. I didn't need a relationship, you know? I just — I had this feeling, and all I wanted was to help Raf. But then they come along with Sebastian the freaking Scottish vampire and his stupid charm and his dumb flirting that I didn't even know was flirting until they decided to tell me!"

Josie sucks on her lips, her mouth trying to stretch and curve and her doing everything she can not to let it. He's clearly spiralling, and she finds no amusement in her friends spiralling. Though, she does share a look with Penelope, who snickers, raising her eyebrows. 

"It's all you think about when he's around now, isn't it?" MG asks knowingly, clearly not having the same issue with concealing his amusement at Landon's situation as he grins brightly at him. 

Landon groans and sinks back into the chair. "I'm still half sure he's only being nice to me so that he can use me as a walking blood bag. But he has nice eyes. They're really blue."

"Oh my god," MG turns to her, "the boy is smitten. It took — what? Two days, and he's already talking about his eyes?"

"Oh, he is definitely trying to charm you for your blood," Penelope says, deadly serious.

Landon glances at Josie's phone. "Is that Penelope?"

Josie confirms and turns her phone around for him to see her. His eyebrows lift slightly, but he smiles, giving a weak wave. 

"You look even sadder than when we drank together," she comments, and he nods as if agreeing with her. 

Josie's eyebrows knit together. "Wait, what? When did you two _drink_ together?"

"Long story, not at all worth telling right now," Penelope says, dismissing it.

Josie can't help but think that Landon looks grateful for that. She's sure she'll get a full recounting of it later at some point, from either one of them, and one of her main questions is going to be how they got their hands on any alcohol to begin with. Probably swiped it from her dad's stash, she thinks. 

"Some news that I'm sure will cheer you up, though," Penelope continues, "I've already told these two that I'm coming back for a month later in the year. I don't know when just yet, but soon, I hope."

Landon does actually perk up a little at that, and Josie's beginning to think that she must have been so wrapped up in all of her Lizzie and Rafael drama last semester that she missed so many things going on. Maybe this semester will be different after all. A fresh start for all of them, especially once they figure out how to turn Rafael back and he rejoins them.

"Oh god, Satan is coming back?" 

Josie internally sighs. Maybe some things won't change. The resentment and bitter tone of Lizzie's voice certainly hasn't when it comes to Penelope, and she's got a feeling that it's not going away anytime soon. Though, if she can get along with Stefanie and Kaleb as well as she has been, maybe there's hope. Nothing is impossible in their lives, after all.

She turns to look at Lizzie, now standing in front of them. Lizzie shoots the phone in Josie's hand a disdainful look, her lip curling slightly upon spotting Penelope on the screen. Josie can still see right through it as clearly as the first day she decided to shun Penelope for eternity.

Josie knows that she really did have feelings for Penelope, no matter how much she tried to disguise it as a competition. No matter how hard she tries, there's always going to be that flash of hurt at not being chosen, lingering beneath the surface like an invisible scar.

"Yeah, gotta make sure you don't drive Jo-Jo to insanity," Penelope says, extra sweet as Josie adjusts her phone a little bit. "Forever is an awfully long time, after all."

"Thankfully you're only going to be in it for about eighty more years," Lizzie quips back. "If you're lucky."

"You two are actually ridiculous," MG says, shaking his head at them in disbelief but holding up his hands and leaning back into the couch as if trying to avoid a physical fight between them.

Josie's sure that if it were possible, they would be tearing each other's heads off right now. It's a good thing that a spell for that hasn't been invented. She's really hoping it stays that way, for everyone's safety. 

"We're not ridiculous," Lizzie argues, crossing her arms and jutting her chin out stubbornly. "We are merely expressing a mutual rivalry. It's actually proven to be rather healthy for people our age, you know."

"Call it celebrating our differences if you like," Penelope agrees. 

Josie raises her eyebrows, and the two of them receive amused, pointed looks from three directions. It takes a moment, then Lizzie's eyes are widening, as are Penelope's. A look of horror overtakes Lizzie's features, and the three of them break, laughing as Penelope makes a disgusted noise. 

"Oh god, I hate that," Lizzie says in completely genuine disgust. "We cannot ever agree again, it's too horrible."

"Absolutely," Penelope says, nodding. "Never again."

"Stop agreeing with me!" Lizzie exclaims.

"What else was I supposed to do?!"

"Literally anything else!"

Josie, MG, and Landon only laugh harder as the two of them break now, shouting at each other. Any other time, Josie would have been exasperated and more than a little annoyed by their arguing. Now, as Lizzie grows increasingly more annoyed and Penelope more frustrated, all she can do is find it funny. 

"For everyone's sake, just stay in Belgium!" Lizzie shouts, throwing her hands up and ignoring the stares it earns her. "I'm sure there are way more people for you to torment there, anyway!"

"Oh, but then I wouldn't get to point out how terrible you are at doing your own make-up," Penelope pouts, blinking her lashes in mock sadness as she tilts her head. "New guy rejected you for Landon so you stopped caring? This is a sad day in the world of feminism, truly, it breaks my heart."

Lizzie's brow creases in confusion, coming to a momentary halt over Penelope's comment. Josie tilts her head in equal confusion, but it only takes a second of examining Lizzie to realize what it was aimed at.

It wasn't her cruel way of shaming her at all, but merely an excuse to point out the obvious smudge in her lipstick. Josie thought that she was supposed to be the one with the heightened eyesight.

Lizzie seems to catch on as well, her fingers quickly going to her lower lip. Her eyes widen a touch, and Josie just barely catches the panic flashing across her face as her own eyes narrow slightly.

Despite being clearly panicked, Lizzie regains her composure with ease, her expression slipping into a mask of cool, calm, and collected, not a care to be found. Josie can't help but wonder how she immediately knew her lipstick was smudged without even seeing it.

"Minor malfunction," Lizzie explains it away with a dismissive wave, carefully wiping the smudge. "They tend to happen every now and then, especially when you have to do a spell to free yourself from a weird coven curse, were siphoned within an inch of your life, and need a blood bag to recharge."

It makes sense, Josie thinks, and MG and Landon seem to buy into it without a second thought. Even without seeing her face, though, Josie's sure that Penelope isn't buying it either. She's surprised Penelope isn't pressing the subject and pointing out the other obvious little things. Her clothes, for one, as Josie is now noticing the slight wrinkle in the skirt of her dress that seems just a touch too out of place.

"Yeah, those new blood bags your mom stocked the freezer with are the best," Kaleb says, walking up beside her with a casual grin. "That's what I call real blood. Not that weird rabbit stuff. It might be good for some, but it's a pass for me."

Josie stares at him. Something's off. She does a quick sweep of him as he continues talking, acknowledging Penelope. Her eyebrows draw a little further together as she stops. The realization quickly sinks in right alongside a smug feeling of disbelief.

There's a particularly dark, and familiar, shade of pink smudged on his bottom lip, barely enough for anyone to notice if they aren't looking close enough. It could just be her imagination, of course, but she's certain that a little bit of colour rises to Lizzie's cheeks when he shifts the tiniest bit, already so close to her. 

Josie shakes her head to herself, internally rolling her eyes. But she smiles as Lizzie drops into the armchair beside Landon and Kaleb perches on the arm of the couch they're on, greeting MG with a grin and their fist-bump thing that she always gets confused by the complexity of. 

They fall into a comfortable conversation so easily, Penelope included as Josie switches the call to the projection mode that she and Lizzie were able to come up with with a couple of magical tweaks here and there from their aunt Bonnie. It's a good alternative to their own crystals, and it at least means she doesn't have to keep moving her phone.

The air is relaxed and calm, not a tug of tension to be found. Maybe the odd biting comment thrown in here and there, but they're quickly forgotten about every time and rarely ever actually come across as sincere rather than a joke between friends. Her smile doesn't leave her face once as she, Lizzie, and Penelope argue with the rest of them about the benefits of magic, laughing at Landon's utter shock when Josie points out that Kaleb used to be a witch. 

It's so much more comfortable than she would have expected possible just a few weeks ago. Landon's question comes back to mind when she catches his eyes, the two of them laughing at the heated debate that MG managed to strike up with Lizzie at his defence.

She had told him that she didn't think she would be able to be fully happy until she knew that she and Lizzie were going to survive past the merge. At the time, she had thought that it would take years for her to be able to be certain of that. But it didn't, and she is. In that very moment, wrapped up in the laughter and joy of her friends, she is fully happy. 

* * *

The sounds of laughter warm Caroline's heart. It spreads through her chest like a river, determined to fill in every crack and crumble that appeared in the last day or so with pure happiness. It works. She just watches from the doorway of the common room with a smile, her arms crossed as she leans against the wooden frame. 

She should go over there and insist that Lizzie and Josie get some more rest. After everything, she doesn't want them collapsing from exhaustion. But they're so bright, sitting there, looking like normal kids hanging out with their friends. They're so _alive_, and she just can't bring herself to interrupt them. 

"They're a lot like you, you know."

Caroline startles at the sound of the voice. She straightens up, turning to look at Valerie with wide, blinking eyes. A small smile forms on Valerie's lips, and it might just be the closest to friendly that they've ever come. She glances at her.

"That was a compliment," she says as if it weren't obvious.

Caroline blinks again before quickly composing herself of the look of shocked disbelief she's sure is written all over her face. She manages a small smile back at her in thanks but doesn't push it. Her last attempt at putting the past behind them didn't go so well, and she doesn't think she can handle seeing that look on Valerie's face again. It only makes her feel even worse than she already does for too many reasons. 

Instead, she searches as Valerie looks back over at Lizzie and Josie. There's something almost fond in her eyes. She may despise Caroline and the Gemini Coven, but it's clear to her that she's felt a connection to Lizzie and Josie since the moment she figured out that they were alive, or maybe from the moment that she helped deliver them.

It's the only reason she even came all the way out to Mystic Falls when Caroline knows that she would rather be in hell than step foot back inside the little town with all its memories locked up in a corner of her mind. 

"I know a lot of time has passed, of course," Valerie continues before she can find the right words of her own. "But still. I suppose I never really thought about how much would have changed. The girls are so much bigger than those little four-year-olds I remember."

"They certainly have grown," Caroline agrees, shifting her own gaze back over to them. "Not just in age or height. They're so much stronger now, too, and not just because they're heretics. Everything has changed."

She catches Valerie's eyes darting to her from the corner of her own, a crease appearing between her eyebrows.

"Why do you make it sound like that's a bad thing?"

Caroline shakes her head, giving a light exhale that's not quite a chuckle but not quite a sigh either. "It's not. I'm just...sad, I guess," she says with a shrug. "I missed so much of it by not being here. They even had their sixteenth birthday a few months back, and I—" she breathes out again, her mouth stretching humourlessly, "—I had to cancel on them for it because I thought I had a lead on a way to stop the merge."

Just saying it pains her. She missed one of the biggest moments in their life that they will probably remember forever, especially now that forever has been extended for them, for a dead-end lead. Even if their birthday didn't quite go as planned, things would have been different had she been there. And she missed it for nothing.

The guy was some newly turned vampire who claimed to know a witch that knew _something_. Lead her straight to an abandoned park and was intent on his plan of trying to hold her hostage, because he had heard that she was important to the Mikaelsons, and apparently one of them screwed up his life. He clearly didn't get the memo that the only Mikaelson to care for her at the time has been dead for three years now.

She snapped his neck and fled back to the hotel that she had left Bonnie sleeping at. They caught the first flight back out, the plan being to go home. By then, though, Lizzie's and Josie's birthday was over, and Bonnie had already caught wind of something that sounded remotely promising. 

"You can't blame yourself for that," Valerie says, to her surprise. She shakes her head, looking at her with disbelief. "You were just doing everything you could to protect them, even if that meant sacrificing your own happiness. And it lead you here."

Caroline looks back over at the kids when Valerie motions her head pointedly in their direction. Deep down, she knows that she's right. All of the time spent away wasn't wasted, but every second was used trying to save them from the supposedly inevitable fate that they weren't even aware of. Now, they're alive in some sense and get to look forward to their future rather than fear it. 

She nods slowly, letting herself try and believe her. It doesn't entirely relieve her of the guilt that will probably continue to eat at her for a while, if not the rest of her eternal life. But it's a start. Sticking around and being their mom again will be the next step.

"I'm sorry that I dragged you into this with me," she says before she can stop herself. More than one thing can eat away at her at a time, and with Valerie right beside her, it's hard not to focus on that particular twist of guilt. "It wasn't fair."

She turns her head to look at her, and Valerie takes a moment. Her expression is difficult to read, especially with how little it changes as she simply stares ahead, a blank sort of look in her eyes. All Caroline manages to catch is the way her shoulders tense up, and the tiniest shift in her cheek as if she's biting at it from the inside. 

A beat passes, and she's already regretting saying anything at all. She knows though that leaving it would have been so much worse, and if she can make up with Alaric for even a few minutes, then surely she can find some sort of common ground with Valerie. 

Then, Valerie sighs, her shoulders dropping. "You didn't drag me, Caroline."

She finally looks at her again, meeting her confused gaze with a slight shake of her head. It could just be Caroline's imagination that makes her think the left corner of her mouth twitches just an inch. 

"But—" Caroline goes to open her mouth to argue.

"You called me for help, yes," Valerie swiftly cuts her off. "You took a chance and hoped that I would still care enough about your girls to want to help. And you were right. My being here revolves solely around those two over there, and the fact that I can't stand to see a child in any sort of danger. That wasn't you dragging me, Caroline. You informed me, and I made the decision to help on my own. You never even tried to insist that I do anything."

Caroline falters, every part of her thrown through a loop, and she raises a shoulder slightly. "You never tried to refuse."

It's not just her imagination this time; Valerie actually smiles at her, as small as it is, it's far more genuine than it has ever been in the past, and it has Caroline's insides swooping at the progress unfolding. 

"I guess you're right," Valerie says, ducking her head. There's another minuscule shift in her cheek, just above her jaw on the left side of her face. "And I guess I wanted a reason to come back."

Her voice goes so quiet on the last part, so uncertain and doubtful, that it has everything in Caroline coming to a halt. She can't even begin to conceal the confusion and shock that dances around in her mind, trying to wrap up the thoughts that bounce away, leaving her grasping at the and completely at loss for words. 

Of all the things she was expecting Valerie to say, that wasn't one of them. By the startled look on Valerie's face, frowning to herself as she lifts her head, it wasn't a conscious decision to voice it either. She'll be surprised if Valerie had even thought it once before it slipped past her lips into the air between them where it now hangs.

Caroline can't say that she doesn't get it. Because she does, more than anything or anyone else at this point. Hearing Valerie say it, and knowing that she was at least partially wrong about all of what she had been thinking about how Valerie felt at being back is still enough to knock her off course for a second or two. 

"But..." Caroline shakes her head, glancing around them before turning her eyes back on Valerie, "...you hate this place. You even considered leaving earlier. Why would you want to come back here?"

"You haven't left," Valerie points out. "Why is that?"

"Well...my family is here," Caroline says carefully, guilt clawing at her chest at just having to say it out loud to her, of all people. "It's where I grew up, where I met all of my friends. It's where Lizzie and Josie were born, and it's become their home, too. I would never be able to walk away from it for good, not now."

Valerie considers her answer for a moment, and Caroline can't help but wonder where she's going with this. Many times in the last two days, as well as almost every single one of them in the entire time she knew her all those years ago, Valerie never really expressed even an inkling of fondness for the town. The memories and the people are a different story, but the town itself never exactly seemed to hold a place in her heart. 

"It's strange, I actually spent more time in the 1903 Prison World version of this place than I did in the real world one," Valerie says, her mouth curving slightly, though there's little humour to be found in it. "You would think that I would associate this entire town with that horrid world, considering how many years I spent in it."

Caroline listens, a small crease in her brow. In truth, she hadn't even thought about that. It's easy to forget that Kai wasn't the only Gemini Coven member that was banished into a hell of their own. It only makes her even more certain that Valerie has every right to hate Mystic Falls and not want to spend another second inside its borders.

"And yet, there are only a few things that come to mind right away when I think of this town," Valerie goes on. "One is a little carnival, right in the middle of the square with cotton candy and people singing the most beautiful songs."

Caroline's stomach twists, pressing her lips together as a familiar feeling tugs uncaringly at her. Her finger brushes over the ring still seated on her left hand, her mind already filling in the next few pages of this story.

"It was all truly beautiful back then, and I was so sure that Mystic Falls was the best place that I could ever call home. Everything felt so different here when I was human. Maybe that's part of the reason why I can't seem to just leave this place behind, no matter how far I run." 

A connection to her words settles itself in Caroline's chest. Everyone who has ever tried to escape Mystic Falls only ever seems to be drawn back to it in the end, herself included. It's like a piece is missing, and it only grows emptier the further away they get from the place that will always be home. 

Valerie gives another little shake of her head and the sadness that Caroline was waiting for clouds her features. The grief is strong, even now, a mirror-image of Caroline's exact feelings. 

"I was once meant to have a family here, too," she says, her voice a little more fragile now as she speaks carefully. "And it feels as if a part of me will never be able to let go of it fully. The human part that still longs for the simple things, which I'm sure you understand. It yearns for the life I could have had here. In a strange sense that even I don't fully understand, this is my home as well. Or at least, it was meant to be."

The pain in Valerie's words is still as strong as the day that Caroline figured out what hers and Stefan's big secret was. Her heart twists and aches, and she just can't imagine losing Lizzie and Josie like that. Losing her chance at a family, or even just a sliver of the happiness that Valerie was so cruelly denied. 

She swallows, feeling sick just remembering it, and blinks once or twice to clear her vision of the stinging in her eyes. They both lost so much in the same little town. Caroline can't help but wonder why it is that they never built a connection over it rather than fighting like children. Had she just been able to put aside her own stupid jealousy, whether it turned out to be right in the end or not, they could have been good friends, she's sure of it.

Tragedy is a rickety bridge that everyone crosses at some point. It's more about whether you're willing to brave it on your own, even if it means stumbling every now and then but pulling yourself back up until you finally reach the other side, or if you'll walk it with someone by your side and help each other stay on your feet when it all starts to crumble.

Caroline thinks that maybe neither of them would still be crawling along it, desperately trying to reach the other side, had they had each other to pull them along when it got too much. 

"I don't want to ask this," she starts, the regret already poking sharply at her, "but I think that if I don't then I'll be thinking about it forever, and you and I both know that holding onto something for that long doesn't end well."

A look of understanding is already passing over Valerie's face, dark and clouded and clearly hoping that she'll stop right there and just let it drop. Except, they both know that she can't. And neither can Valerie.

"No," Valerie says before Caroline can ask the question that's been haunting her since she called her from New Orleans. She looks Caroline in the eyes, and as piercing and sad as they still seem, there's a sincerity to them. "I don't blame you for what happened to Stefan, Caroline."

Her stomach feels as if it drops through her body at just hearing it voiced aloud. Her fingers come to a pause on her ring, though, as does she as she stares at Valerie. 

"You don't?" she can't help but ask in disbelief, her voice quiet and shaking. "Why not? I mean — you would have every right to. If he had left Mystic Falls with you, then he wouldn't have been able to get caught up in any of it. He would still be alive right now if he had just left town, or if I had left, or—"

"I don't know the exact details of how Stefan died," Valerie quickly cuts her off, probably for the best, "but I can say for sure that...Caroline, it wasn't your fault." She shakes her head and sighs, sounding weary and defeated. "No matter what, Stefan would never have left Mystic Falls. And no doubt, Damon would still have found a way to drag him into whatever mess I'm sure was the reason that Stefan is no longer here."

Caroline wants to protest; her instinct to defend Damon became rather normal for her during her arguments with Alaric. He would say something about not wanting him near the school, and especially Lizzie and Josie, and Caroline would start pointing out how much he has been there for them recently, even after losing his own brother. 

"It wasn't Damon's fault either," she decides to say, even if it risks whatever it is that is going on between the two of them right now. "In fact, Damon was seconds away from sacrificing himself to save the entire town. Stefan made the choice to stop him and do it himself."

Valerie's eyes are glistening, she notices, and her lips are pressed together in a thin line. Her throat shifts as she swallows, nodding slowly, letting it sink in. Caroline hates that Valerie didn't already know. She should have reached out to her after he died, at least told her where he was buried. 

"That certainly sounds like Stefan," Valerie says, her tone light and accompanied by a ghost of a smile.

"Always had to be the hero," Caroline agrees, a smile of her own forming on her lips as her voice wobbles. "I'm beginning to think that Damon was right; it was the hair. It did something to him."

Valerie actually laughs at that, and it may just be the first time that Caroline has ever seen her laugh. It has her joining her in the fond memories, her eyes wet but unable to keep the little spark of happiness out of her. Remembering Stefan is one of the most painful things that she has to do on a daily basis, but it's also the thing that keeps her upright and pushing forward.

The other side doesn't exist anymore, she knows that. But every now and then, she'll just get this feeling, like he's there. Standing right next to her and watching her with a smile, encouraging her like he always did.

It's the same feeling she has right now. A warm presence, like a shiver brushing along her skin, but familiar and comforting. He's there, watching the two of them, and she imagines he has the brightest, happiest smile on his face.

Their laughter fades, traces of smiles left on both their faces. Something feels right about it. About finally being able to connect with her in a way they were never able to in their past.

She can't help but notice the glint in Valerie's eyes as she looks away. Caroline catches her bottom lip between her teeth, gnawing on it as she lets her mind work while she just looks at Valerie.

"You know," she starts, and her heartbeat flutters along with her stomach when Valerie turns her gaze back on her, "if you ever wanted to come back to Mystic Falls again for a little longer, I'm sure that I could have a talk with Professor Vardemus and get you a job as a teacher. You certainly have a lot you could teach these kids, especially Lizzie and Josie."

Valerie blinks in surprise, her eyebrows lifting. She seems stunned speechless, and Caroline wonders if maybe it was a stupid idea. She just saw an opportunity and thought it could be good for her, but maybe it would be a terrible idea, especially with all of the reminders of Stefan that she would have to be around on a daily basis if she were to accept. 

"You want me to work here?" There's disbelief in Valerie's voice, but she doesn't sound make it sound like it's all that ridiculous of an idea. "I'm not even qualified as a teacher."

"You're a centuries-old heretic and a former member of the Gemini Coven, " Caroline states. "That's pretty much all you need to qualify for this school. There's so much that the kids could learn and benefit from having you here, even if just for one class a week."

Valerie scoffs, but it's not a rejection to her offer, merely disbelieving as she digests what exactly Caroline's saying to her. In truth, Caroline wants her to accept. Part of her is sure that she won't, no matter if they've resolved their differences and past tension or not. It still might just be too much for her. 

"Being a teacher has always appealed to me in some way," Valerie muses, and Caroline perks up. She glances at her and something about her expression must give her away because she rolls her eyes while her lips twitch up the slightest bit. "Can I think about it?"

Caroline nods eagerly. "Of course. Take as much time as you need. It'll most likely take a few weeks for Vardemus to actually implement any of his changes to the curriculum anyway."

"Yeah, about that: who the hell is Vardemus?" Valerie asks, her eyebrows furrowing. "I was under the impression that either you or Alaric was running this place. It does say Salvatore Boarding School out front, after all."

"Some...issues occurred," she replies, trying to brush them under the rug for now. "So, I brought in Professor Vardemus. He's a sorcerer from Britain, and is going to be taking over as headmaster for the semester."

Valerie clearly wants to prompt for more information, especially on the details of the issues that occurred in order for her to need to seek out a new headmaster. But she doesn't, her curiosity simply staying put as a flicker in her eyes. 

"Honestly, I'm surprised that Bonnie wasn't a candidate for the position," Valerie says. "She was my third guess for who was running this place. There's just something about her, I guess."

Caroline lights up, her eyes narrowing as Valerie's words circle in her mind. 

"You know what? That's actually not a bad idea," she says slowly, an idea already forming in her head. "I never offered it to Bonnie because she never seemed that interested in a job, but...she would be perfect to work here. Of course, with Vardemus already here, it wouldn't be in that position, but I can absolutely work something out. Maybe vice-principal or something seeing as how Dorian's practically refusing a promotion because of some sort of fight he and Ric had."

Valerie raises her eyebrows. "I'm not sure I will ever truly understand men."

"That, dear Val, is exactly why I have vowed to stop trying to make sense of most of them," Caroline says with a shrug and a curve of her lips. "It's pointless, and frankly, women can be much easier to understand. Plus, they're usually better kissers."

Valerie's eyes widen, but she's huffing out a laugh, a twinge of disbelief returning. Caroline can't tell if it's the use of the nickname that does it or if it's something else that she said. She's guessing something else.

The glint in her eyes grows as she says, "that they are."

It's an agreement that Caroline was partially expecting and it only makes her smile widen that little bit more. Valerie shakes her head, looking away from her as if to hide her own smile. There's this look on her face that Caroline can't let go of. 

Valerie clears her throat and she almost looks flustered. If vampires could blush as deeply as humans, Caroline is sure that the light tint of pink that's risen to Valerie's cheeks would be much more noticeable. There's another little flutter inside of her as she thinks she's never seen her like this before. 

"Alright, well," Valerie turns her gaze back to her, and something has shifted, somewhere, "I should get going. I have absolutely no idea when the next flight out to New Mexico is, but I should get back soon. If I'm going to be returning here, then I should make a start on packing my things up as soon as possible. Not that I really have that many things."

Caroline's hopeful by the way she says it. As if maybe she's already made her decision about her offer. 

"I can check the flight times if you want?" Caroline suggests. "Or I can come with you? To the airport, I mean, I could drive you out there. It'll only take about twenty minutes, and I really don't mind."

"That's okay, I can get there myself," Valerie turns her down, but it's kind. "But thank you, really."

Caroline scoffs, shaking her head. "I should be the one thanking you. You helped save my girls. Again."

"I wasn't going to just stand by and not do anything," Valerie points out, trying to dismiss it.

"Still," Caroline gazes at her, holding her eyes as her voice softens, "thank you, Valerie. Without you, this might not have been able to work. I really appreciate you doing this, and I won't let you refuse, so just accept that I'm thanking you and leave it at that."

Valerie presses her lips together in a smile and holds her hands up as if surrendering. 

"Well, without our assistance, you wouldn't have even known the spell existed," she hears Kol say, and they both turn to look at him as he approaches, Davina and Freya a few steps behind him. "So I'm certainly hoping that we're in line for a show of your appreciation next."

Caroline rolls her eyes, but her smile widens and she turns to them. 

"Of course I'm grateful for everything you guys have done," she says, and Kol's smile is somewhere between smug and sincere. "We wouldn't have been able to do any of this without you. So, thank you. All of you."

She looks between the three of them, Freya giving a single nod with a slight smile while Davina beams at her.

"I'm just happy we could help you and your daughters," she says, stepping forward. "And, for the record, they're just as lovely and strong as you described. I really see where they get it from."

"How the hell did you get a girl like her?" Caroline asks Kol, narrowing her eyes in disbelief. "She's the complete opposite of you in every single way possible." 

Davina rolls her eyes, laughing softly while Kol glares goodnaturedly at Caroline. She expects him to make some snarky, typical Kol-like comment. But his features soften, and there are little lines around his eyes as he smiles, gazing at Davina in a way that Caroline can feel the love from it.

It's the type of love that she always dreamt of having; powerful and unwavering, and filled with so much adoration that he practically melts at the sight of her. The type that she experienced twice in her life. The last being the strongest, and most painful, but the happiest that she has ever been.

Without him needing to say a word, she understands now. She had her doubts before because of all their history together, but she sees now that when he says he's a changed man, he truly means it. 

"I honestly have no bloody clue," he answers her. "Suppose I just got lucky."

"_Very_ lucky," Freya agrees, and Davina doesn't seem to be able to stop smiling, her eyes closing in embarrassment. "You were a total nightmare before."

"You barely knew me before Davina and I dated!" Kol protests, his fondness slipping into indignation. "That Christmas party does not count. All I did was take you as my date because I didn't know you were my sister, so, you're one to bloody talk, especially after siding with Finn and nearly getting the lot of us killed."

Caroline's eyebrows shoot up and she wonders just how much Mikaelson family history she's missed out on. It's strange, but she almost feels like she knows Freya somehow, and yet, she doesn't know a thing about her. Especially not that particular piece of information.

"Your family hasn't gotten any less weird," she comments and is met with agreement from both of them, and even Davina.

"We just wanted to stop in to say goodbye before we go," Davina tells her, glancing back over her shoulder at Kol and Freya. "It's going to take us a while to get back home, so the earlier we leave..."

Caroline nods in understanding before she's even done speaking. "Of course! Once again, thank you so much for this."

Davina smiles again before Kol's got a hand on her shoulder and is nodding his head off to the side in a gesture for them to leave. She almost feels bad remembering just how long it's going to take the two of them especially to get back to New Zealand. And Freya to her family.

"You know, if you ever wanted to visit again, you're all welcome to," she tells them, and then looks at Freya. "And if you ever feel like your daughter would benefit from a school for people like her, I can assure you that she would be welcome."

A thoughtful, considering look crosses Freya's face, and she almost seems intrigued by the thought. Caroline can only imagine what kind of chaos a mini-Mikaelson could cause, especially with all of the abilities of a witch and a werewolf, but she is fairly certain that she would be a good addition to the school. She nods, her mouth curving.

"I'll definitely keep that in mind," she promises. "Keelin and Vincent might take some convincing, but...I'll have a talk with them. See what they think."

Caroline nods back, something settling in her chest. Hope. Things all seem to be working out for once, and now that every last problem that the Gemini Coven had left them with is gone, she can focus ahead. On her family, on her school. Maybe now she can actually look for potential students to recruit. Mystic Falls High is bound to have at least one or two interesting ones in their mix. 

With one last smile and a wave of her hand, the three of them go to leave. Kol stops halfway and turns back to her.

"Feel free to keep in contact, by the way," he tells her, and she stares at him in shock. Then, he adds, "and...maybe you could let me know if and when Bonnie manages to make some more of that cure?"

It clicks into place. She catches the flicker of surprise on both Davina's and Freya's faces as the two of them pause, exchanging a look between them. Caroline can't help but let the reality of how much has changed for all of them sink in.

Kol Mikaelson is standing in front of her, with a wife, not even threatening her in the slightest, and wanting to take a cure for vampirism. If only time travel existed so that she could go back and have her newly-turned-self laugh in her face and say that that's insane, even for her.

"Of course I will," she says, and it's impossible not to see the relief and longing on his face at even just the possibility of what that could mean for him. "And if you see Jeremy before I do, tell him I'm gonna kick his ass for kidnapping two of my students and being an idiot. He'll know what I'm talking about."

Kol chuckles and nods, "I will pass along your message."

With that, they turn and take their leave back down the hallway. Caroline watches them for just a moment, a smile still settled on her face as she tries to process through what has felt like some crazy dream that she's having while she's actually sound asleep on the plane, Bonnie in the seat next to her, and on their way to track down whatever new, inevitably dead-end lead they've caught this time.

But it's real, and she just needs a moment to understand how that is exactly.

"I really should go, too," Valerie tells her at last, having remained silent during her conversation with the Originals. 

She didn't seem intimidated, and Caroline doesn't really take her for the type to be scared because of someone's reputation. If anything, that's what fuels her to hold herself high against them and act as though she's dealt with far worse than them in her lifetime. She has. 

"Yes, yeah, no, totally," Caroline quickly says, pulling herself back as she looks at Valerie. "But...keep in touch."

"Don't worry," Valerie says, her eyes twinkling with something unreadable, and Caroline's stomach is doing some weird somersault of a thing that she doesn't hate. "I can guarantee you we'll see each other soon. Maybe it's time that I tried to make Mystic Falls my home again. It's been a few centuries. Things might be different this time."

Caroline takes her words for what they are: the unspoken acceptance of her original offer. A confirmation that she'll be back, and maybe to stay for good this time. All Caroline knows is that it makes her happy to hear it, and she can tell by the look on Valerie's face that she might be just as excited about what lays ahead.

"I guess I will see you later then," Caroline decides to say rather than forcing a goodbye. Goodbye never seems to really stick for their kind, no matter how much they may wish it would. 

"See you later," Valerie agrees with one last smile at her. 

At last, she follows after the other three, walking down the hallway with Caroline's eyes on her the entire way. She bites her bottom lip, trying to suppress a smile and failing miserably, she's sure. The last dirty-blonde curl disappears from sight, and Caroline exhales in a half-sigh.

She turns back around to face the common room, her mouth still curved and her eyes still creased with that smile that seems insistent on its place now. Her eyes drift over the room, picking out the little details that she remembers deciding upon as if it was just a few minutes ago.

She finds Lizzie and Josie again, still seated near the centre of the room, right in front of the window with their group of friends that, admittedly, she can't say she knows all that well.

That's going to change. All of it is now that she has the chance and the time. She has all of the time in the world, she realizes with a lifting feeling. There are so many prospects for what the future holds in store for them now with every little change and bump in the road that she's sure is to come, whether it be in a year or tomorrow.

She just knows, as she gazes at her daughters and swells with pride and a happiness that is unmatched by anything she has ever felt in her life, that she can't wait to be a part of it. For once, she's certain that no matter how unclear things become, she'll be able to work it out, with everyone she loves far deeper than a human or even an undead creature like herself should be capable. Everything will be different now. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well...that's it, guys. The end. The final chapter. I don't know how to feel, honestly, I've been writing this for so long, even if it doesn't seem that way. I loved writing this fic more than I have with any other, and it is always going to have a special place in my heart. I really hope that you have all enjoyed the journey of it as much as I have, and please, any last thoughts, I would love to hear them all. They mean the world to me, and I am so grateful for everyone who has read this, as well as commented. I know I said this was the end, but I do have plans for a sequel. It's gonna take a while, and I'm not sure if anyone's still gonna be interested when I'm finally done, but just so that you know this isn't really the end. Thank you all so, so much! ❤


End file.
